Page 220 - The Miracle of Migration in Animals
P. 220
THE MIRACLE OF MIGRATION IN ANIMALS
tion phenomenon in animals. For example, how can a bird’s flying for
six weeks in a southeasterly direction, then four weeks in a northeast-
erly direction, be programmed gradually in its DNA’s amino acid
chain? Or how can a gene tell a fish when to migrate and where in the
ocean it should go? No rational,
intelligent person could agree
that unconscious molecules can
direct an animal so precisely as to
when it should act and what it
should do. But evolutionary biol-
ogists claim that selective genet-
ics lets animals “bequeath” useful
forms of behavior to future gener-
ations. Even though he is an evo-
lutionist, Gordon R. Taylor
criticizes this claim in his book
dealing with subjects that
Darwinism cannot explain:
But the plain fact is that the genetic
mechanism shows not the slightest
sign of being able to convey specific
behaviour patterns. What it does is
manufacture proteins. By producing
more of certain hormones it could af-
fect behaviour in an overall way –
making the animal more aggressive,
more passive or perhaps even more
maternal. But there is not the faintest
indication that it can hand on a be-
havioural programme of a specific
kind, such as the sequence of actions
involved in nest building. If in fact
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