Beating fossil horses: Creationists take on an “Icon of Evolution”

It seems that the posting on horse fossils attracted some ID creationists who quickly dispersed when called to defend their ignorant claims. Not surprisingly, creationists have abused a perceived weakness to undermine evolution when in fact the full story (as well as the simplified story) both present an excellent overview of evolution in action.

In Beating fossil horses: Creationists take on an “Icon of Evolution”, Brian Switek describes his somewhat painful introduction to ID ‘science’

The book that introduced me (albeit painfully) to intelligent design and critics of evolution was the infamous Icons of Evolution by Jonathan Wells, and in it Wells spends an entire chapter attempting to discredit the idea that horses evolved. This is not surprising, especially given that horse evolution was so triumphantly heralded by none other than “Darwin’s Bulldog” Thomas Henry Huxley in 1876. Indeed, the rich amount of fossils uncovered, plus public interest and prestige allowed horses to take on an iconic status, caused the transitions among fossil horses to become one of the most widely-cited examples of evolution, the change from small, multi-toed ancestors to large, one-toed descendants making for a very compelling scientific narrative.

Brian, continues to outline ‘the rest of the story’, so often found missing in creationist resources.