Summations Only

Hi Percy, Which raises an interesting question; do we see these totally-not-atavistic-leg-bones in any tetrapod other than those with reduced or absent limbs? Because if we did see this phenomenon in, say, cats, it would provide superlative evidence for AOKid's theory. But we don't. There are around half a billion cats on the planet and, AFAIK, they don't display anything like this, whereas whales do. Other limb-reduced tetrapods do; snakes for instance show atavistic limbs from time to time.Seems to me that is a major problem for AOKid's hypothesis. If these features are only seen in tetrapods with reduced/absent limbs, it can only be interpreted as very strong evidence for the evolutionary explanation.Mutate and Survive

Hi Bluejay, I hope you and yours are well. Well, except for it's, y'know, pelvis. I'm aware that supernumerary limbs exist, but I don't think that they do creationists much good here; to form an extra limb, an organism must first have the genes that code for hind limbs. I don't see any reason for whales to have those under AOKid's theory. I seem to recall seeing something about whales having those genes, but I've lost the link.To be clear, I would not characterise this as a knockdown argument against AOKid's position. I see it more as an absence of a very convenient piece of evidence that could support his ideas. As far as I can tell, it doesn't exist in any of the countless domestic animals with which we are so very familiar. It doesn't destroy his argument, but it sure is inconvenient. I hear ya. Exactly how much evidence are we supposed to have about whales? How good might we expect the evidence to be with a sparsely populated marine creature? "Not great" would be my answer. And yet we have some examples of limb atavism in cetaceans. Domestic species on the other hand we can observe in their billions, yet I've never seen any weird flank outgrowths that could be compared to whatever-the-heck AOKid thinks these appendages are.I dunno. It's food for thought.Mutate and Survive

Hi AOKid, Irrelevant. They are legs. That means they have nothing to do with these appendages that you are so sure aren't legs.If you want to claim that the whale appendages are not legs, I can't help but wonder what they actually are and why they don't show up in any other animal. Supernumerary limbs have nothing to do with anything here.Mutate and Survive