"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution..."
Theodosius Dobzhansky
By the time teacher John Thomas Scopes went on trial in
Tennessee in 1925 for teaching evolution to his students, evolution had already
been a controversial topic for decades.
Ninety years later, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution through Natural
Selection is still a hot-topic, and its place in public education (and, more
recently, that of Creationism or “Intelligent Design”) one of the longest
fought battles of the culture wars.
Tonight, that battle continues at the Creation Museum in Kentucky, when
Bill Nye (“the Science Guy”) squares off against creationist Ken Ham in a
televised debate.
Without having seen the debate, I’m going to jump to two
conclusions. 1) It will be very
spirited. 2) No one who is watching it
(on either side) will have their mind changed.
At all.
I’d always been interested in evolution, ever since I was
old enough to understand it, and working with animals on a daily basis has only
reinforced that interest. I came to
realize pretty quickly that not everyone was as accepting of the theory as I
was.
At one zoo, located in what is typically referred to as “the
Bible Belt”, I was showing some visitors a beautiful Burmese python and
describing its natural history and behavior.
In a sudden flash of inspiration, I lifted up the giant snake’s tail and
invited the assembled guests to observe the two claw-like spurs on either side
of the snake’s cloacae. Those, I
explained cheerfully, were remnants of the legs of ancestral pythons; I proceeded
to describe how snakes had actually evolved from reptiles that did have legs,
but had gone “legless” to facilitate hunting prey underground or in dense
undergrowth.
Up until this point in the conversation, many of the
assembled visitors had been staring at the python as if it was the most
horrifying thing imaginable. Now, they
were fixing that look of bug-eyed horror at me. One or two parents ushered their children
away hurriedly.
A few weeks later, I was visiting the Smithsonian’s Museum
of Natural History. Visitors were
crowded into a movie theater in the museum’s Hall of Mammals, meant to explain
how mammals came to be. A few seconds
in, following the first use of the “E” word, I saw a couple stand up and pull
their kids out of the theater. “We don’t
believe in that”, they staged whispered to their young daughter as they led her
away.
I don’t know if there has ever been any formal polling done,
but if there had been, I suspect we would find that a greater percentage of
zookeepers, compared to the general public, believe in evolution. There are several possible reasons for this,
but the life sciences education that most keepers receive prior to entering the
field probably has the most to do with it.
That and the reality of working with the animals directly on a daily
basis and seeing behaviors, adaptations, and traits that many keepers find hard
to explain otherwise (i.e.: snake “legs”).
Compared to many other “hot button” issues – same-sex
marriage, abortion, health care, immigration – the teaching of evolution may
seem, at first glance, to be somewhat unimportant. After all, you may wonder, we’re here on
earth, so why does it matter how we got here? I used to agree with that viewpoint, and tried
not to argue it too much. That being
said, I’m pretty conflict averse.
I’ve come to believe, however, that the teaching of
evolution is important, for two reasons.
First, a critical mind needs to look at and evaluate evidence;
currently, the scientific evidence (fossil records, DNA analysis, vestigial
organs, etc) supports Darwin’s theory.
If students do raise objections or find problems with the theory, those
should be vigorously explored. No one
should ever reject a theory – in science, in business, in politics – just because
“I don’t want it to be true” (*cough*, climate change, *cough*)
Secondly, the teaching of evolution puts humans in
perspective with the natural world. The
earth’s ecosystems, it says, were not made for the use and privilege of a
single species. Rather, we arose as part
of a complicated world of ecosystems, in which all living things have a role. In this later viewpoint, the religious community
is starting to come around; whereas the Book of Genesis was once read to give
humans dominion over the earth and all its creatures, free to use or exploit or
destroy them as we see fit, it is now more often interpreted as stewardship of
the planet.
The utmost goal of any zoo or aquarium should be
conservation. With that in mind, there
is a point that needs to be made to every visitor, creationist or evolutionist:
the animals that you see here today exist.
Whether they were each the direct creation of a supreme being or the
byproduct of millions of years of evolution, they are here, the result of a
process that neither you nor I nor anyone can pretend to understand in
full. Therefore, they should be
treasured and protected.
I would hope that everyone could get on board with that theory
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