Page 201 - Portents and Features of the Mahdi's Comingl

HARUN YAHYA - ADNAN OKTAR

wild ani mals, those that can run fast er will sur vive.
Therefore, the deer herd will be com prised of fast er and
strong er indi vid u als. However, unques tion a bly, this
mech a nism will not cause deer to evolve and trans form
them selves into anoth er liv ing spe cies, for instance,
hors es.
Therefore, the mech a nism of nat u ral selec tion has
no evo lu tion a ry power. Darwin was also aware of this
fact and had to state this in his book The Origin of
Species:
Natural selec tion can do noth ing until favour a ble indi -
vid u al dif fer en ces or var i a tions occur. 7

Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these "favor a ble var i a tions" occur?
Darwin tried to answer this ques tion from the stand -
point of the prim i tive under stand ing of sci ence at that
time. According to the French biol o gist Chevalier de
Lamarck (1744-1829), who lived before Darwin, liv ing
crea tures passed on the traits they acquired dur ing their
life time to the next gen er a tion. He assert ed that these
traits, which accu mu lat ed from one gen er a tion to anoth -
er, caused new spe cies to be formed. For instance, he
claimed that giraffes evolved from ante lopes; as they
strug gled to eat the leaves of high trees, their necks
were extend ed from gen er a tion to gen er a tion.
Darwin also gave sim i lar exam ples. In his book The

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