Apparently, male swallows are growing longer and longer tails. Why? Female swallows seem to like long tails quite a lot, so males with longer tails have a better shot at getting the mate they want. It's evolution in action, but creationists will dismiss it because the male swallows aren't a new "kind" of some sort.
From The Loom:
Measuring the effects of natural selection is tough work, the details of which are impossible to squeeze into a brief news article. Scientists have to document a change in a population of animals--the length of feathers, for example--but then they have to determine that the change is a product of genetic change.
We are much taller than people 200 years ago, but it's clear that most, if not all, of this change is simply a response of our bodies to better food and medicine. The authors of the swallow paper carried out a number of studies that suggest that the length of swallow tails is genetically based, and that those genes are changing. If they're right--and other experts I contacted think they are--it's a striking example of how quickly the sex lives of wild animals can evolve.
This was discovered a few years ago, but it remains important because it's an unambiguous example of evolution in action. Why is this rapid evolution happening now? Biologists aren't sure, but desertification in Algeria might be an important factor -- in other words, global warming may be forcing species to adapt quickly or die.
I wonder, though, if the longer tails makes it easier for them to carry coconuts...
You mean, if I had a tail I would have a better shot at mating???
Perhaps. Maybe there are exercises you can do to elongate the residual of a tail you already have – your coccyx.
The existence of this part of your body, as well as many other indicators, shows that we evolved from other lifeforms, and endorses the theory of evolution. This knowledge passes harmlessly over the heads of creationists however.
“I wonder, though, if the longer tails makes it easier for them to carry coconuts…”
European or African?