Celsus

And while I'm in this post-slutting frenzy...


The colugo, or flying lemur (which isn't a lemur, and doesn't fly).


The smallest artiodactyl, the Lesser Malay mouse deer (chevrotain), which isn't a mouse or a true deer, and the male has tusks (er, protruding upper canines). Cool fact: "Female lesser Malay mouse deer have the potential to be constantly pregnant throughout their adult life, being able to conceive only 85 to 155 minutes after giving birth." From here.

keyser_soze

Sweet!

MrDarwin

I suspect that if you pressed a creationist who was actually moderately well-informed in biology, he would say that "kind" corresponds to a genus, and that higher-level taxonomic categories like "fish" or "mammal" (or "Carnivora") are artificial, and just a matter of us lumping animals together based on similarity (not common descent).

But the whole concept strikes me as rather ad hoc. The problem with this reasoning is that the number of "kinds" is enormous, probably much much larger than any creationist realizes. And if they go one step further and say that "kind" corresponds to a taxonomic "family" (as some creationists do), then they have pretty much already accepted taxonomic classications as reflecting evolutionary hypotheses, so why not just go all the way?

Oolon Colluphid

Is a poisonous shrew a venomouse?

I'll get me coat....

DT

Duvenoy

Heh. Good one. It certainly would be if it were a rodent.

Great thread and equally great pics. Wish I knew how to do them.

One slight nit-pick: Only the male platypus has the venomous spur. Currently the thinking is that it's used in male combat.

Wanna have fun with a creationist? ask him about the naval on the platypus. Or echidna. They're mammal 'kind', right? Might also ask if toads and frogs are the same 'kind',then bring up the Surinam Toad. Whut 'kind' be's this, then?

doov

Minnesota

Euglena. With both plant and animal characteristics


Barbary sheep (aoudad). From biochemical assesments made in 1977 it has five characteristics exclusive to sheep, five exclusive to goats, seven shared by both, and ten that are unique.

Oolon Colluphid

Get the url of a picture, the actual url not that of the page it's on. In Windows, right-click and pick 'properties'. Copy it.

Just stick it in between the tags {img} and {/img}, with no spaces, and [ ] brackets in place of curlies.

Et voila!
Yeah, did know that, but hadn't given it much thought. So it'll be the male echidna only that has the non-functional spur then. <-- evolutionary prediction
Nah. Kind is a genus or family, not such a large grouping as class. Too much microevolution, y'see.
Sorry, too lazy to look it up. Please do tell!

DT

Craig

I wonder how that fits into the whole "sheep and goats" parable?

MrDarwin

Hey, what about geep?

Viti

Thanks everyone for their examples. This is fascinating stuff and now I have more critters to look up. And if I mess up my facts on my posts, please remember I am a layman, and I may screw up a lot...and quit apologizing for correcting those screw ups. You're not being nitpicky or nerdy...this is exactly the discussion I wanted!

You want to be scared...go to the same thread at Christian Forums. No awe and wonder at these strange animals or the diversity of life, no "hey, that's really interesting and I learned something even if I don't know what kind it is (except from other evilutionists)"...sad sad sad