Page 29 - Research 1.0

denotes an area of deep water channels that would have
prevented migration when sea levels were lower as during Ice
Ages, while other areas would have had dry land connections.
The islands Bali and Lompok, separated by a mere 20 miles,

have quite different fauna. Wallace's studies of species
distribution and barriers to their migration has earned him
the title "father of biogeography".

Birds can fly from island to island, reptiles can swim or
float on driftwood, plant seeds can be carried to different
islands by wind, water or birds, but amphibians cannot survive
in saltwater and most land mammals are limited by the
distances they can swim. Those deep water channels restricted
them to one side of that dividing line.

New Zealand is another prime example. With no native mammals,
except again for those able to fly (bats) or swim (seals)
there, birds assumed the ecological roles filled by mammals
elsewhere. In the absence of ground dwelling predators, many
birds abandoned energy consuming flight, the Kakapo, Kiwi and
Moa among them. The wing of the kiwi is a mere vestige, no
bigger than your little finger, with an equally useless claw

at its end. (There's that "half a wing" creationists talk
about.) ;-) https://i.imgur.com/OU30E2N.jpg?1

Other isolated islands also had their own unique flora and
fauna, as did geologically recent islands such as the
Galapagos and the Hawaiian Archipelago. The 13 or so species
of Galapagos Finches, sometimes called "Darwin's Finches",

are all relatively drab in color, varying in beak morphology
and physical size. Despite their physical and genetic
differences, creationists typically respond with "They are
all still finches"; perpetuating their straw man version of
evolution as "one animal turning into another." What they
ignore is that the Theory of Evolution says no such thing.
Evolution is the non-random selection of random mutations; it