Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings

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Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
Professor Richard Dawkins and Sir David Attenborough explain the evolution of the wing. Dawkins does so in response to Creationists' claims that there's no such thing as evolution.
Apr 3, 2008 5:02 AM
Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
God did it, end of discussion. Down to the job centre for you Dawkins!
By: SaladDays
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
While I don't rely solely on one explanation for the progression of humankind, I don't necessarily understand how a "stub" equates to evolution, even in the most literal of terms.

Just another example of science that lends credence yet fails to deliver fact.

Quite fascinating, though.
By: flampo
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
Dawkin's explanation of a stub combined with Attenborough's comment about the flying squirrel's wings being a "very valuable asset" should give you your answer.

Evolution is essentially a generations game. Any accidental mutation of a stump that turns out to be a biological advantage will be passed on to the next generation, and so on and so forth. Virtually any "stump" could evolve into a wing given the proper habitat and the creature's need for a flying ability to survive.

Eons of time helps, too.
By: Shiggety
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
Could you give a hypothetical example of what you would consider to be a 'fact'?

From my point of view, it can't get much more factual than this sort of example. We're looking for changes that occurred to a species over millions of years, and any one particular creature or fossil is only going to represent the tiniest snapshot of that species' evolution in time. It's simply not possible to find a fossil that will encompass the entire transition of no-wing, to wing, all at once. The fact that we have evidence of animals between these two states should dismiss any theory of "There is no possible way a wing could have evolved", which I believe was the point Dawkins was addressing.
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
Dawkins is wearing a shirt that makes my eyes hurt.
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
That's Dawkins's most famous homologous structure, or vestigial (maybe) organ. It proves that Dawkins evolved from small ape-like creatures that foraged in the tropical meadows of the Jurassic Period. The fact that your eyes hurt goes to say that perhaps the shirt organ has a function still: scaring away BoogeBoogiestons, which are burrowing creatures often found in meadows also. Dawkins likes firm ground under his feet.
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Re: Dawkins & Attenborough: Evolution of Wings
Well, mission accomplished. I will not be eating him for dinner. I prefer my food to not look like it has been previously eaten and regurgitated.
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