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If the animals on Noah's ark were of every kind (not species), then is it possible that some level of evolution could have occurred to provide today's biodiversity?



    
    

Clarify Share Report Asked June 19 2014 Stringio George Adams Supporter

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B8c746f3 63c7 43eb 9665 ef7fba8e191b Kelli Trujillo Supporter Loving Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Teacher, Musician
Good question! There is indeed a "type of evolution"--known as "micro-evolution"--that occurs as people and animals and even plants continue to reproduce over time. This is not at all to be confused with "macro-evolution," which is the theory (Note the word "theory"--it is NOT a proven fact at all) that all life evolved over largely expanded amounts of time from "simpler" life forms into the vast array of complex species that exist today.

Micro-evolution can happen like this: A group of people with both brown and blue eyes move to a secluded area where there are no other people. People with blue eyes can only pass on the DNA for blue eyes because blue is a recessive gene trait, meaning that a person has to have two blue eye genes--one from each parent--to have blue eyes. 

When one parent passes on blue eye DNA and the other parent passes on brown eye DNA, the brown will show and the blue will be "hidden", or the colors will create a "mix," such as hazel. [Note: There are also genes that determine variations in color, so for those who are highly educated in the field of genetics, I realize that I'm greatly simplifying this subject.]

Because people with brown eyes can have hidden DNA for blue eyes from one parent, it's possible for them to pass the blue eye DNA to their children and they can have blue-eyed children if the other parent also passes blue eye DNA on to the children.

Let's say that over time, and supposing that no new people groups move to this area, in spite of brown being a dominant gene, the people with brown eyes keep passing on the blue eye gene when they reproduce. Eventually, there would only be blue-eyed people in this area if no new people groups joined their ranks, and the DNA for brown eyes would not be present at all in these people. 

This is indeed how certain traits became prevalent enough and other traits ceased enough to form distinct groups of people and different breeds of animals, or different sub-species of animals. Through time, and as different people groups were isolated from other people groups, certain traits were lost and others became defining characteristics of that group.

About animals, the same is true: As certain groups were isolated from others, defining traits became prevalent as others disappeared. Breeders of animals have been instrumental in developing desirable traits in certain animals and "breeding out" undesirable traits for centuries to cultivate distinct breeds.

There are many theories about micro-evolution and the changes within species of animals once the ark landed. Some believe that all horses came from just one kind of horse; others claim that all dogs originated from wolves. 

The main thing to keep in mind is that micro-evolution, this process of "small steps of change" within a species is VASTLY different from the assertion that gargantuan steps between species occurred in a process that caused one species to evolve into a completely different species. What we're talking about here are defining characteristics that are noticeable in different groups of the same species, which occurred over some generations of time; we're not talking about one species evolving into a completely different species over millions or billions of years.

There is another question and answer thread on eBible similar to this that you might find interesting:

http://ebible.com/questions/767-how-did-noah-fit-all-the-animals-on-the-ark

I hope this helps.

June 20 2014 10 responses Vote Up Share Report


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