Hot Evolution, Salamander in the City

Posted by -

Once again, a comment was made on a post doubting evolution with another claim that "evolution has been seen to occur." Uh huh. With the disingenuous elasticity of definitions, any variation that is seen  is called evolution, as is speciation — the latter is something creationists agree with.

Fire salamanders were used as an example of evolution in action. Centuries ago, walls were built around religious buildings. These lizards could not climb the walls, so they were separated from their pals. Each group evolved in its own way.

Fire salamanders were cited as examples of evolution because they did not turn into something else, but there was variation. Like creationists expect.
Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra), WikiComm / Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Of course, the owlhoot making the remark ignored the fact that they didn't change into something else. They remained fire salamanders. The idea was taken further that building cities changes evolution. The additional claim that religion and cultural practices cause evolution is...truly bizarre. The Master Engineer designed organisms to adapt. Evolution is not a part of the plan.
War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities (The Conversation, 3 July 2025). According to Elizabeth Carlen, a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St Louis, evolution is the universal hammer that nails all of biology into a neat, organized temple to Darwin. Are you one of the “people” who has not yet come into the temple to admire the relics?

You can read it all by heading over to "Cities Are Not Causing Evolution." A similar disingenuous idea is discussed in "Humans Helping Birds Evolve?"