In reality, whales are gentle and gorgeous giants. But in legend, they are monsters, their bulk concealed below the ocean surface, posing a terrible hidden danger to the unwary. Monstro, for example, is the whale that swallows Pinocchio and Geppetto in the 1940 Disney cartoon. Two Darwinists, P.Z. Myers and Jackson Wheat, were likewise incautious in challenging a recent Long Story Short video about whale evolution.

The lighthearted animation from Discovery Institute topples a Darwinist icon, said to be “one of our best examples of an evolutionary transition” known to Darwinian diehards. If whales are the best they’ve got, they’re in trouble.

A Soft Target?

Myers is an atheist biologist who grumps about “A whopper of a creationist tale.” Wheat is the co-author of a book about fossils, The Rocks Were There. They thought they were taking on a soft target. Our colleague, whom I’ll call Long Story for short, who wrote and animated the video, uses whimsical humor to convey, in brief form, the essence of arguments about evolution. His first entry in the Long Story series was about the issue of homology. His 10-minute whale video, “Whale Evolution: Good Evidence for Darwin?,” came packaged similarly.

Now in a new video, Long Story responds to the critics. He begins, “They make a lot of claims that we got some things wrong, but let’s look more closely and see if that’s the case.” Poor guys, they are swallowed whole: 

There’s a bit less humor here, as Jackson and P.Z. receive their education. Whales are not trivial animals, and the question of how they “evolved” is not trivial either. In fact, the idea that Darwinists have that enigma all figured out is what biologist Jonathan Wells calls a science “zombie,” a notion long ago shown to be false but that lumbers on nevertheless, apparently unkillable.

Watch “Whale Evolution: Responding to Critics” now. It’s just over 12 minutes long. It is good news that Darwin defenders are trying to engage with us on the substance. When you’re done, you’ll probably have had your appetite whetted for further information about the problems with this evolutionary icon. More good news is that we are offering a free download of the chapter on whales in Dr. Wells’s book Zombie Science: More Icons of Evolution. Get it here now.