Evolutionary Theory Explains Diversity

A common analogy when explaining the relationship between microevolution and macroevolution is walking. Each step in a walk takes one only a tiny distance, but one can walk all the way from New York to San Francisco one tiny step at a time. In the same way that the steps in a walk can accumulate into long distances, the small steps of microevolution gradually accumulate into large macroevolutionary changes.The observations and conclusions you're responding to note that because all reproduction is imperfect that genetic change over time is inevitable. There is nothing that can prevent it, and natural selection locks in changes consistent with success in the environment. In other words, there is nothing that can stop the tiny steps of microevolution from taking place, and given that environmental change is just as inevitable the genetic changes will accumulate and eventually take the population long "distances" (genetically) from their original state.A common response to the walking analogy is that macroevolution is actually like walking from New York to Paris - simply not possible. What's missing from this form of the analogy is the genetic equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean.--Percy

I think we have to remain skeptical until reliable references can be identified.--Percy

What I found after a brief search with Google Scholar is that chihuahuas and Great Danes are unlikely to breed naturally, but I found nothing reliable that said it was impossible. They are mutually interfertile. I found nothing authoritative that the pregnancy couldn't go full term in either case, though problems and issues wouldn't be surprising.But it would be nice if we could once and for all dispense with the creationist argument of "a dog is a dog is a dog" by discovering that there actually are some breeds of dogs that are not interfertile.You noted the main problem, that most people would be relucant to introduce this argument into a discussion: "A guy on the Internet told me that his vet told him that Great Danes and chihuahuas can't interbreed and are actually different species." And of course anybody convinced would have to say (if honest), "A guy on the Internet told me that another guy on the Internet told him that his vet told him..."So speaking for myself, I have to remain skeptical and not use the information until I have a reliable reference.--Percy

The Bible says that God created the animals "According to their kinds," not "According to their *fixed* kinds." Reproduction is imperfect, so kinds (as defined by the various existing populations of animals) must inevitably change over time. What change are you thinking of that occurred overnight?--Percy

If you're looking to the pace of technological change as an indication of when God created the first real humans, then wouldn't the enlightenment, the industrial revolution, and the 20th century be more dramatic examples?--Percy