Posted on 03/25/2009 9:29:08 AM PDT by GodGunsGuts
Is a Hippo a Pig or a Whale?
March 24, 2009 Two teams of evolutionists are having a spat over whale evolution. Thewissen and team (Northeastern Ohio U) say the hippo is close to the pig, but Jessica Theodor (U of Calgary) and Jonathan Geisler (Georgia Southern U) say its in the whale family tree. Their arguments and counter-arguments were published in Nature last week...
(Excerpt) Read more at creationsafaris.com ...
Ping!
Please, no more Meghan McCain threads.
It’s my contention that a hippo is a hippo, a whale is a whale and a pig is Barney Frank.
I thought is was a rosie thread
Well, a Hippo has a ‘whale of an appatite’ and it ‘eats like a pig’ so comparing these attributes one MUST then assume it is commonly descended from both- there can be no other explanation
A hippo is one whale of a pig.
No, you’re thinkin’ of warthogs.
LOL somethings just seem so right.
I bet they end up spending hundreds of thousands in federal money to find out that it is a Hippo.
LOL!
I thought hippos were related to the horse or Meagan McCain.
Wow - scientists working for a living. Did you read the article or did you just like its snappy title?
Do they BBQ well? If so, I vote pig.
From a purely Biblical perspective, aren't these referred to specifically, and described rather heroically as one of the more powerful and amazing creatures in God's Creation?
I guess it depends on whether creatures crawled out of the sea or into it...if one can believe such a thing.
It’s a Super Hawg. Just ask Granny.
That's it.. we need to disassemble one and throw it on the grill.
Then we'll know.
There is no substitute for scientific method.
Well, they smell like pigs but they dive like whales, with their noses closed but no blowhole.
I’m gonna say you’re gonna need a blowhole to get stamped ‘whale’.
So let’s go with horsepig.

Technically, it's a Moore.
Neither! Its just big boned!
Comment from http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/nature07776.html by Giesler and Theodor:
“Thewissen et al. describe new fossils from India that apparently support a phylogeny that places Cetacea (that is, whales, dolphins, porpoises) as the sister group to the extinct family Raoellidae, and Hippopotamidae as more closely related to pigs and peccaries (that is, Suina) than to cetaceans. However, our reanalysis of a modified version of the data set they used differs in retaining molecular characters and demonstrates that Hippopotamidae is the closest extant family to Cetacea and that raoellids are the closest extinct group, consistent with previous phylogenetic studies. This topology supports the view that the aquatic adaptations in hippopotamids and cetaceans are inherited from their common ancestor.’
And the shocking (to the knuckleheads at creation safaris) reply from Thewissen et al at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7236/full/nature07775.html:
“The analysis of Geisler and Theodor confirms our main phylogenetic result, that raoellids are, or include, the sister group to cetaceans. Their study expands on our findings by inferring that hippopotamids are the sister group to the combined raoellidcetacean clade, whereas our paper had explicitly stated that our data could not address the position of the extant artiodactyl families.”
Does it really matter? Global warming is going to make them go bye-bye anyway!
Remind me never to send an evolutionist out to buy bacon.
Why was my first thought that the hippo is actually related to the horse?
Any persons studing zoology out there? I can hear Jack Hanna in my ear saying this.
i thought a hippo was a horse...
We have a winner.
I thought it was in the cow family.
more hsocking to the knuckleheads at nature is the idea that the ‘studies’ apparently aren’t ‘studies’ at all, but rather nothign more than ASSUMPTIONS based on what again? The fact that different species have similar designs? EEEEEEK! Are there ANY evidences showing the trillions of differences between the two species evolving one way or hte other? ANy evidences showing even one small morphological change evolving from a blowhole to nostrils? Nope- just pure ASSUMPTIONS that there are MISSING SPECIES somewhere that must have shown a nice neat little evolutionary line of change- but fret not- ‘One day, we’ll discover these missing links’- until then we have these incomplete ‘Studies’ that ASSUME hippos evolved from whales- oh wait- ooops- I mean Pigs, or was that horses?
Put the word ‘Study’ i nthe article, and everyone simply assumes it’s scientific with all manner of evidences to support it- little do they realize though that ALL these scientists have to base their ASSUMPTIONS on are a could of entirely moot examples of homology- but as we KNOW from science, homological smilarities do NOT a descendant make- But let’s not let these icky little details cloud our vision of evolution eh?
It was powerfully important to teach schoolchildren that, decades ago, but you're being terribly impolite in pulling this out of the memory hole. Shame on you, you're embarrassing FR, lol.
Does that mean that Barney Frank is a whale?
A hippo is closer to a horse than a pig or a whale. I learned that in grade 10 biology.
It's HorseWhalePig, newly discovered big brother of ManBearPig. Al Gore is beaming.
It’s a horse.
Scientists do not debate whether evolution (descent with modification) took place, but they do argue about how it took place. Details of the processes and mechanisms are vigorously debated. Antievolutionists may hear the debates about how evolution occurs and misinterpret them as debates about whether evolution occurs. Evolution is sound science and is treated accordingly by scientists and scholars worldwide.
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php#b2
My goodness, it’s clearly descended from a jellyfish.
Certain assumptions are sacrosanct, yes.
[[Al Gore is beaming.]]
You mean Al Gore is basking- beached himself on a beach somewhere in the Arctic- but not to worry- the polar bears, whom he claims have all but vanished due to global warming ()Which hasn’t happened for over a decade now as we’ve been steadily COOLING- NOT warmign as Al Bore claims) will eat him for supper since they’re ‘starving’ because they can’t swim to the ‘dissappearing’ ice sheets anymore thanks to ‘man-caused’ global warming- which again doesn’t exist, which again is due to natural phenomena which Al conveniently keeps hidden fro mthe public.
Yay science!
I caught one of htose just last week- Didn’t taste like chicken or pork to be honest- but meh- when you’re starving, and since we’re reportedly the top of the food chain, we can eat any durn thing we like- I’m goign ot have a spotted owl egg omellette tomorrow me thinks- since I ‘teechnically’ won’t be aborting unborn spotted owls- I expect htough that some baby murdering environut will have a coniption stating that I ‘murdered’ future spotted owls-
Or Katie Couric.
[[I’m lead to believe that you think science has some value.]]
Absolutely!
[[But if scientific conclusions don’t support your opinions, they’re crap, right?]]
Golly Gomer- Read into statements much? Where di I state that? We KNOW from science that homological similarities do NOT a descendent make- It has been scientifically PROVEN that similarities can and DO arise from wholly disconnected biological systems between dissimilar species- which is precisely WHY homology can NOT be used as an argument for common descent- this isn’t ‘my opinion’- htis is established scientific fact- so apparently, IF my statements don’t agree with your a priori assumptions that homology shows descent, then apparently my statement- which again, isbased on scientific fact- must therefore be ‘crap’ in your opinion? Lol-
[[Also, why do you appear to RANDOMLY capitalize some WORDS?]]
They aren’t random- the whole concept behind capitalization is to give KEY WORDS the proper weight they desrve, and can imply menaing beyond the meaning- it’s a subtle way of saying more than what certain KEY WORDS appear to first indicate. You are free to read between the lines of my Capitalized words, but you are not free to ‘read between the lines’ and insinuate something that is not true as you did by insinuating that I think soemthing is ‘crap’ and falsely implying that I based that assumption simply on my own opinion when infact I state soemthing is not possible based on actual scientific conclusions.
You are a baddie and you beat me to my line. ROTFL!
Evolution and Christianity are perfectly compatible.
Actually since whales were originally land mammals the nostril evolved into the blowhole .but anyway this will help explain that process.
“The evidence that whales descended from terrestrial mammals is here divided into nine independent parts: paleontological, morphological, molecular biological, vestigial, embryological, geochemical, paleoenvironmental, paleobiogeographical, and chronological. Although my summary of the evidence is not exhaustive, it shows that the current view of whale evolution is supported by scientific research in several distinct disciplines.”
http://www.talkorigins.org/features/whales/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.