Sizing Up the Matter

In Nature v. 431, 9. Sept. 2004, p. 139 "Relative size in the mating game" by Malte Andersson and Johan Wallander discusses a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101, 12224-12227 (2004). I point to it as an example of my contention that while evolutionists claim to have worked out the broad stages of evolution, that evolution is so well-supported by data that it can be considered a fact, etc., they're actually still struggling to nail down some rather basic points that are perfectly compatible with creation science anyway.

In this case, the fuss is over "an intriguing rule" proposed "five decades ago" by "the German evolutionary biologist Bernhard Rensch." This rule states that the bigger the species, the bigger males are on average relative to the females. It seems to hold true in all sorts of animals, but "The causes behind the rule...have remained unclear." Of course, evolutionists don't say "They just evolved that way" any more than creationists should say "God just made them that way" as we are purported to do.

Not surprisingly, the rule seems to be related to sexual selection. By studying when the rule holds and when there are exceptions among shorebirds, the authors of this study found that "In species with strong male competition (polygyny) and non-agile display, males are larger than females. In species with agile aerial display, males are smaller than females.

When competition over mates is weaker in males and strong in females (polyandry), females are the larger sex."(Fig. 2, p. 141). So the "larger male" rule is simply a matter of males physically fighting over females, and the larger the type of animal, the more effective and important being a bit larger is in a fight. When the males compete by doing acrobatics, it helps to be small and agile, and if the females are fighting over the males, then the males don't have any advantage in being the largest.

So why'd it take some 50 years to figure that out?

Until Next Time,

David Bump
Philippians 3: 13 Brethren, I
count not myself to have
apprehended: but [this] one thing
[I do], forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are
before, 14 I press toward the
mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.

http://home.att.net/~david.bump