Nov 26 2009
The Crocoduck!
Just a short post today, as it is Thanksgiving for those of us in the US, and my day will be spent with family and way too much food.
Many of you may remember the idiotic duo of mindless creationism (IDMC) – Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. One of Cameron’s shining intellectual moments was when he presented his impression of a transitional species – the crocoduck. This is a favorite strategy of creationists – grossly misinterpret evolutionary theory, and then argue that because you are ignorant of how evolution is supposed to work, it must be false.
In this case Cameron presents and example (the crocoduck) of what many creationists think of as a transitional species, an impossible hybrid monster. They must think that evolutionists believe that in order for a duck to evolve, first a crocodile evolves a duck body, while retaining its crocodile head, and then the head eventually evolves into a duck head. And since we have never found a crocoduck – evolution must be false.
Even for those creationists who have not taken this classic canard to such absurd height, there is still the frequent claim that transitional fossils are missing from the fossil record – because they envision transitional species to be half-formed, in the process of morphing from one working form to another. This is at odds with evolutionary theory (which any creationist can learn by cracking a single legitimate science book on evolution) – which states that populations change over time with mostly gradual morphological changes, but each step of the way each individual is perfectly functional. Structures work every step of the way.
I was reminded of Cameron’s absurd crocoduck when I saw a recent science article detailing five ancient crocodiles - one of which is nicknamed the duckcroc (I can’t imagine why they didn’t just call it the crocoduck). They also found a ratcroc, dogcroc, boarcroc, and pancakecroc. These were crocodiles built to compete with their dinosaur cousins – with long legs, able to stand tall and gallop. Very cool.
The duckcroc (Anatosuchus minor) has a flat broad snout reminiscent of a duck’s. It’s not really a duckbill, of course, it has teeth and is clearly crocodilian – but the notion that Cameron’s crocoduck was found by paleontologists is priceless.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
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10 Responses to “The Crocoduck!”
Too bad Noah didn’t think to include a pair, a crocoduck might have cooked up nicely for a celebratory meal today.
Happy Thanksgiving, Steve. Nothing to add, other than to say great use of the word ‘canard’ in a post about ducks.
Being from Australia, no Thanks Giving here. But hope you guys have a good day over in the US.
Regarding the article, not much to say, that video-still makes me want to throw a shoe at Kirk.
Yeah, but did a female duckcroc also evolve?
j/k
Happy Thanksgiving from Tallahassee Skeptics in the Pub!
Perhaps Creationists like to eat TurCrocoducken on Thanksgiving Day!
devoutcatalyst-Do you serve red or white with crocoduck?
@provaxmom
I lent out my copy of The Cretaceous Sommelier and never got it back, so I couldn’t tell you.
By the way, thanks for being provax, mom.
“Even for those creationists who have not taken this classic canard to such absurd height”
Groan…..
Steve, I thought better of you to use such an excruciating pun!
May I suggest a red wine as I know this complements turducken, and if you decide to add a fourth meat, crocodile, and seasoned stuffing, I believe a white wine would be lame.
What are you talking about, Slarty? The more corny a pun is, the better it is.
Steven, what annoys me most about Kirk Cameron and especially Ray Comfort is that in spite of their staggering ignorance, I know that they’ve both been corrected enough times to know not to use these same debunked arguments. Ray Comfort knows full well that the fossil that he wants scientists to produce would not be a transitional fossil. What he wants is a chimera.
Unfortunately, the problem is more public ignorance than anything. Ray Comfort never has to modify his arguments, because the public at large isn’t prepared to call him out on it, anyway. Even among those who are pro-science. Ten years ago, I may not have been able to answer the crocoduck challenge, either. So he can continue to harp on the same debunked crap and film the befuddled reactions of people on the street who aren’t prepared, and if anyone is too smart for him, he can just edit that out.
Thunderf00t recently did a YouTube video demonstrating that Way Of The Master is basically a cash cow for Ray, and chances are that he’s not going to risk his posh life style over a change-of-heart. I think of him the same way I think of Peter Popoff and Kevin Trudeau; a scumbag willing to make money off of people who don’t know any better.