Re: [asa] Platypus- a transitional creature?

> A question- young earth creationists constantly say there are no
> transitional life forms. On the surface, doesn't the platypus easily defeat
> that argument?

Although the platypus retains some intermediate features between a
reptilian grade organism and more standard mammals, it also has plenty
of specialized adaptations for its particular lifestyle, so it is not
as good of an example of a transitional form as many fossils.
Nevertheless, it is a fairly good example and one that many people
have heard of, limiting the opportunities for misrepresentation (not
that there aren't published YEC attempts to deny that the platypus is
a transitional form).

> "Neither fish nor fowl: Platypus genome decoded"
> Excerpt:
> According to a study released Wednesday, the egg-laying critter is a genetic
> potpourri -- part bird, part reptile and part lactating mammal.

Neither this nor the AP story that it seems to derive from gave
information about locating the actual study, and a bit of searching
failed to turn it up, so I can't comment in detail on exactly where
the error of "part bird" came in. Probably from the duck-like beak,
though the story citing the venomous spur of male platypus as a
reptile-like feature didn't know what it was talking about, either.

Among living animals, birds are most closely related to crocodiles and
turtles. In turn, those (plus dinosaurs and assorted other extinct
things) are related to tuataras, snakes, and lizards. The entire
reptile+bird group in turn is related to the mammals. Platypus and
echidna are the earliest-diverging branch of mammals to still be
alive. Thus, the connection of bird and platypus is through the
reptiles. "Part bird, part reptile" is misleading, and I would be
very surprised at any feature that is more like birds than any
reptile.

The fact that platypus and certain lizards and snakes both produce
venom is no more significant phylogenetically than the fact that wasps
and conoidean snails also produce venom. The close similarity between
Gila monster venom and snake venom, on the other hand, is quite
interesting evolutionarily.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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