"Whales have leftover leg bones from their land-dwelling ancestors. 1" (Claim #E6677)
Response
These bones are not leftover from evolution but rather serve reproductive purposes. 2 Some even claim that whales have been found with complete hind legs, but this is a myth. 3
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Sources
Coyne, J. A. (2009). Why Evolution Is True. New York: Viking.
Sarfati, J. D., & Matthews, M. (1999). Refuting Evolution. Green Forest, AR: Master Books.
Notes
- Coyne, 2009, p. 60: "Whales are treasure troves of vestigial organs. Many living species have vestigial pelvis and leg bones, testifying, as we saw in the last chapter, to their descent from four-legged terrestrial ancestors. If you look at a complete whale skeleton in a museum, you'll often see the tiny hindlimb and pelvic bones hanging from the rest of the skeleton, suspended by wires. That's because in living whales they're not connected to the rest of the bones, but are simply imbedded in tissue. They once were part of the skeleton, but became disconnected and tiny when they were no longer needed." ↩
- Sarfati, 1999, p. 77: "Many evolutionists support whale evolution by alleging that there are vestigial hind legs buried in their flesh. However, these so-called 'remnants' are not useless at all, but help strengthen the reproductive organs -- the bones are different in males and females. So they are best explained by creation, not evolution. As with the allegedly functionless limbs of Basilosaurs, we should not assume that ignorance of a function means there is no function." ↩
- Sarfati, 1999, p. 77: "One myth promulgated by some evolutionists says that some whales have been found with hind legs, complete with thigh and knee muscles. However, this story probably grew by legendary accretion from a true account of a real sperm whale with a 5.5 inch (14 cm) bump with a 5-inch (12 cm) piece of bone inside. Sperm whales are typically about 62 feet (19 m) long, so this abnormal piece of bone is minute in comparison with the whale -- this hardly qualifies as a 'leg!'" ↩