Darwin's whale of a tale

In the first edition of his book On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wrote about the possibility of a bear evolving into a whale-like creature. He cited the example of a black bear that he had read about, which was seen swimming for hours with its mouth open, catching insects in the water. Darwin hypothesized that if this bear were to continue to live in a water-based environment, and if there were no other animals competing with it for food, then it could eventually evolve into a creature with a larger mouth and other adaptations that would allow it to live in the water full-time. He even went so far as to say that this creature could become "as monstrous as a whale."

Darwin's theory was met with ridicule by many of his contemporaries, who pointed out that there were many anatomical and physiological differences between bears and whales that would make it very difficult for a bear to evolve into a whale-like creature. Darwin himself eventually came to agree with his critics, and he removed the passage about the bear-whale from later editions of On the Origin of Species.

However, Darwin's theory about the bear-whale is still interesting to consider, as it shows how he was thinking about the process of evolution. He was clearly aware that evolution could produce some very strange and unexpected results, and he was not afraid to explore these possibilities. Even though his theory about the bear-whale was ultimately incorrect, it still provides us with a glimpse into Darwin's thinking about evolution.

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There you have it no matter how improbable the "just so" stories evolutionists simply ignore design in nature.