Whales

Whales are mammals.  According to Darwinian evolutionists whales 'began' by being land mammals, and then 'decided' to explore the sea.  That this is an inherently improbable event seems to escape all evolutionists.

The improbability stems firstly from the fact that, according to the dogma, sea-dwelling creatures were anxious to escape from the confines of the sea, and now land dwelling creatures' anxieties were apparently pointing in the exact opposite direction.  Secondly there is more than a small anthopomorphism involved here, because no animal makes a decision which puts it inherently at a disadvantage - else it would not survive for long.

There is also the profound difficulty, in the case of sea-dwelling mammals, of the nature and extent to which they would have to change, and the evolutionary time which they had at their disposal.

Whales differ from other mammals in having the breathing hole ('blow-hole') at the top of the head.  They also have fins instead of limbs, physiological modifications enabling them to dive to great depths for half an hour at a time without suffering any ill effects, and a layer of fat instead of fur.  There are also significant breeding problems, including a live birth into water.

Any one of these changes is so profound, and so complex, that it is difficult to contemplate how it could have occurred in any time scale, and there is no way that the whale could have survived and competed successfully in the ocean while all the changes were actually taking place.  As with so many of these proposed changes, half measures would quickly have been fatal.

"The existence in whales of transitory teeth and of small bones buried in the flesh, but corresponding to the pelvis, the femur and the tibia, is commonly regarded as a proof of their descent from ancestors of the tetrapod type with functional teeth; but in the first place some anatomists consider that these structures have an important role in the developmental process; in the second place, we have no proof of a descent from ancestors in which these structures were more strongly developed; in the third place, it is clear that if they exist now, this is not primarily because they existed in the past, but because actual present causes operate to produce them.  What such cases like those of anatomical 'convergence' and general homology actually demonstrate is that there are large numbers of organisms, differing considerably in the details of structure but constructed on the same fundamental plan.  However this is no proof of descent from one original ancestor of this anatomical type.  This itself requires proof."  (Thompson 1956)

"The propulsion of whales through the water is by means of a horizontally disposed tail.  On the hypothesis that whales are transformed land animals it is often said that they have lost their hind limbs.  In support of this the two small internal bones of the femur adjacent to the pelvis are said to be all that remains of the hind legs.  There is no evidence from the fossil record that hind legs in whales have gradually wasted away since, ... no fossils of an alleged land mammal in the transitional stage have been found.  Further, it is the Right Whale, Balaena, alone, the most highly 'adapted' to aquatic life, which has these bones inside the body - no other species has them.  There is reason to believe that the bones in question may act as strengthening bones to the genital wall."  (Cousins 1964)

The temporary teeth in the foetus of the whale play an important part in the formation of the jaw, much as the milk teeth of a child do in the human.  Do we claim that human milk teeth represent an ancestral type?  If we do, where is it?  If not why not?

References:
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Cousins (1964) 'Evolution Protest Movement Pamphlet' 114 April 1964 p2
Thompson, W.R., (1956) Intro to 'The Origin of Species', (Darwin), Dent, pXIV