Page 90 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

In short, the evolutionists’ scenario—of
sea mammals evolving from land-dwellers—is
incorrect. Their remaining claim, of evolution
amongst sea mammals themselves, also faces a
terrible dilemma. Via scientific classification,
they attempt to build a family relationship be-
tween extinct marine mammals known as
Archaeoceti and living whales and dolphins.
Yet experts on the subject think rather dif-
ferently. The evolutionist paleontologist
Barbara J. Stahl writes:
The serpentine form of the body and the peculiar
serrated cheek teeth make it plain that these ar-
chaeocetes could not possibly have been ancestral
to any of the modern whales. 51
The evolutionist explanation for the ori-
gin of marine mammals is also in a grave
predicament presented by findings by molecu-
lar biology. The classic evolutionist scenario
hypothesizes that the two main whale
groups—toothed whales (Odontoceti) and
baleen whales (Mysticeti)—evolved from
some common ancestor. Michel C.
Milinkovitch of the University of
Brussels has opposed this view,
emphasizing that this assump-
tion is based on anatomical
similarity, but invalidated by
molecular findings:
While the monophyly of cetaceans is widely ac-
cepted, the origin of and evolutionary relation-
ships among the major groups of cetaceans is

88