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To: MineralMan
"Actually, you offer a poor example. Alligators, after reaching maturity will lay their eggs each year, in rather a large clutch. What makes you think they are slow to breed?"

It's a fine example. Alligators only have one (Spring) breeding season. They breed slow and they are little changed in 200 million years. Hmmm...

75 posted on 07/03/2006 1:48:49 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: Southack

"It's a fine example. Alligators only have one (Spring) breeding season. They breed slow and they are little changed in 200 million years. Hmmm..."

Lots of animals are much as they were. Evolution does not mean that every species changes dramatically.

As for speed of breeding, Alligators produce numerous eggs each year. They're actually fairly prolific breeders. They have to be, since most of the young are eaten shortly after emerging from the egg.

If, as you say, alligators have been around for 200 million years, that is 200 million generations. And that's a lot. We have alligators that are pretty close to their 200 million year old ancestors. That demonstrates that they are well adapted to their niche. They, like the coelacanth, survived because they were well suited to their environment.

That does not mean that other species did not evolve from those 200 million year old alligators, you see. It just means that alligators survived with few changes. Evolution is not a zero sum game.


80 posted on 07/03/2006 1:53:56 PM PDT by MineralMan (non-evangelical atheist)
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