Vestigial Structure: Whale Legs

I admit, I thought evolutionists would have grown tired of this argument by now. At one point huge sections of the human body were considered useless vestiges of our ancestors as no one knew what they did. However, as science advanced, vestigial organs were slowly all discovered to have a function. Most evolutionists have abandoned the human vestigial structure argument and I was under the impression that vestigial structures had pretty much become a vestige of evolutionary past. However, I was incorrect. I recently came across a vestigial structure argument in an evolutionary book on whales so I decided to rebut it here.

Evolutionists love the vestigial structure argument. Essentially it allows them to argue that there is no Creator because the vestigial structures are junk and a good God would not create junk. This particular vestigial structure argument comes from whales.  It is based on the evolutionary storytelling that goes along with whales. According to the evolution story, whales were originally land animals.  However, over the course of millions of years, they decided to leave the land and return to the water their ancestors had come out of. As they did so, evolution blindly gave them the tools they needed to survive in their new watery habitat.  However, according to evolutionary dogma, because evolution is a blind unguided process, it missed a few things, leaving behind a pair of vestigial pelvises in whales.  Some evolutionists have even talked about how the whale used to walk on dry land.

Like a lot of evolutionary arguments, this one falls apart upon closer inspection. First of all, these bones are not remotely capable of supporting walking. To illustrate, there is an image below with the bones that are purportedly vestigial legs circled. Just try to imagine the whale walking on them.

Once you stop laughing, remember that evolutionists are not joking, they actually believe whale ancestors walked on legs like those.  The second problem with this theory is that those bones are not vestigial. They have a definite function.  In fact, the peer-reviewed journal Evolution published an article in 2014 which emphatically stated that the “vestigial pelvis” of whales is actually the anchor point for some very important reproductive muscles.  Without the presence of those useless leftovers, whales would be totally unable to reproduce.  This discovery has caused some consternation in the evolutionary ranks as one of their time-honored arguments suddenly became a useless vestige of the past. Predictably, rather than abandon their dogma, they lept at a rescuing device.

Their rescuing device of choice for the “vestigial” whale pelvis is particularly curious. One particular atheist I engaged on this topic replied that the pelvis is still vestigial it has just been repurposed for a different use.  Let us take that argument to its logical conclusion.  If indeed the whale pelvis is a repurposed vestige, evolution has a problem. The pelvis would have needed to immediately transform into an anchor for reproductive muscles in the first generation of whales that went into the water. If it had not done so, the first whales could not have reproduced and would have gone extinct in one generation. Extinct whales do not evolve.  Yet evolutionists insist the whales transitioned gradually into water animals from land animals.  This is flatly absurd. It could not have reproduced without these “vestigial” pelvises and would thus have died out in one generation. This could not have happened gradually. The whale had to have been designed the way we find it. Evolutionists will not accept this because it goes against their commitment to materialistic naturalism.  I found it bitingly ironic that the same atheist who stated that the whale pelvis is a vestigial structure ended our conversation by saying I was “living in denial.”

Whale pelvises are not useless evolutionary leftovers. They are not even repurposed leftovers.  Calling them such in the face of scientific evidence to the contrary can only be a result of a determination to adhere to the evolutionary dogma regardless of evidence.  This can only be true if evolution is a religion which I have discussed previously.  Vestigial structures are not a common argument among evolutionists anymore. Its a realm they know they have lost.  However, they do periodically appear. Even if a structure currently has an unknown function, much like the appendix or the whale pelvis once did, that does not imply it is a vestige. It simply means there is research yet to be done. I’m confident that eventually, science will find a use for any few remaining vestigial structures left, only deepening the evolutionists hole they have dug for themselves.