Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004

Previous Claim: CH514.1   |   List of Claims   |   Next Claim: CH521

---

Claim CH520:

Response:

1. Geological isolation allows diversity, and the lack of it causes species to go extinct. Different regions with the same climate often have very different species (for example, polar bears in the Arctic and penguins in the Antarctic). One of the leading causes of extinction today (perhaps the leading cause) is introduced species. If even one species such as a goat, pig, or snake gets into a region where it did not used to live, it can cause extinctions -- either by out-competing the indigenous species for resources or by preying on the indigenous species directly.
   • The brown tree snake has caused the extinction of many native Pacific Island birds, including nine of the eleven native species on Guam.
   • A single introduced land snail species eliminated all the native snails of Tahiti.
   If all the species (or even "kinds") today were kept together, most of them would quickly go extinct.
   
   
2. Uniform climates do not support a wide variety of species. You find different communities in tundra, temperate forest, tropical forest, and desert because of their different climates. A single climate would rule out the biota from all other climates.
   
   
3. Whatever the climate was like, some species could not survive in it. Grylloblattids thrive in cold temperatures, and many species die in temperatures above 10 degrees C (Lloyd n.d.). Temperatures that low would kill tree sloths. Some cave species require 100 percent humidity. Other species would die from fungal and algal infections at humidities even close to that high.
   
   
4. All animals coming from a uniform climate strongly argues against creation. Creationism argues that features of animals are designed; for example, that the camel's desert adaptations are designed for the desert, that the mountain goat's sure-footedness is designed for mountains. (Evolution says much the same, but "designed" by natural selection.) If all animals come from the same sort of climate, there is no need for such features, so it does not make sense that they are designed.

References: