One of the not-so-witty comebacks of Creationists, when confronted with the overwhelming, quite often link-filled, record of biological evolution on Earth, is to say that there’s no reason to believe in evolution because evolution has never been directly observed.
Another Flat Earth Creationist excuse for opposing science education bites the dust. Evolution has been directly observed, actually. A study co-authored by Iain Douglass of Save The Elephants observes that the average tusk size of African elephants and Asian elephants has gotten smaller over the last 150 years.
This observed change, it is hypothesized, is due to the increase in hunting pressure brought by poachers seeking to make money in the ivory trade and by big game hunters. Both kinds of hunters have increased their activity over the last 150 years, and both kinds of hunters, for different reasons, seek elephants with large tusks. A dynamic that once made elephants with large tusks more reproductively successful has been replaced with a new dynamic that makes elephants with small tusks more reproductively successful. The idea is that it’s that change that has brought about the smaller tusk size in the two species of elephants.
Or maybe the Baby Jesus has returned to Earth and is laying hands upon the elephants. We’ve got to teach the controversy, right?
