Creationism in the dog house as “St Bernard study casts doubt on Creationism”, claims an article in Manchester University News and Medical News Net 24 Oct 2007. Kris Klingerberg of the Faculty of Life Sciences, Manchester University, has studied the skulls of 47 St Bernard dogs and looked at how they have changed over the 120 years since the breed was first defined. He found that modern dogs have broader skulls, a more pronounced ridge over the eyes and a steeper angle between the nose and forehead than the original breed. Klingerberg commented: “These changes are exactly in those features described as desirable in the breed standards. They are clearly not due to other factors such as general growth and they provide the animal with no physical advantage, so we can be confident that they have evolved purely through the selective considerations of breeders. Creationism is the belief that all living organisms were created according to Genesis in six days by ‘intelligent design’ and rejects the scientific theories of natural selection and evolution. But this research once again demonstrates how selection – whether natural or, in this case, artificially influenced by man – is the fundamental driving force behind the evolution of life on the planet.”
Editorial comment: This may be an example of selection, but it is not evolution. Selection is a real process and is an integral part of the creationist understanding of biology. To select something means to choose it from a number of already existing alternatives. Selection does not create new living things, or even new characteristics. Therefore, intelligent dog breeders can deliberately select the head shape they most desire, and ensure that those dogs with it continue to breed. We do need to note that what has been proved is that after 120 years St Bernard dogs have been bred into St Bernard dogs. Perhaps we should give the evolutionist a little longer and come back in a million or five years.
We predict that eventually dog breeders will reach the limit to how wide and how acute the nose angle can get in St Bernards, and when that happens all they will have achieved is to narrow the gene pool for head shape genes within the breed. We also predict they will never be able to use selection to turn a St Bernard dog into a non-dog, i.e. another kind of animal. Selection is not evolution. The dogs are areproducing after their kind, just as Genesis says. (Ref. canines, breeding, prediction)
Evidence News 28 November 2007