Many textbooks have a series of pictures showing how the horse is supposed to have “evolved” from a small creature about the size of a terrier. What these books do not tell you is that nowhere on earth has anyone found these “horse ancestor” fossils lying on top of one another in a regular order. It is just as reasonable to believe that all these animals lived on Earth at the same time, either as different species or as larger and smaller members of the same species (compare Great Danes and dachshunds).
One modern breed of horse in Argentina averages only 43 centimeters (17 inches) in height. Shire horses weigh up to a ton, while Shetland ponies weigh only 400 pounds. If all three types were to be found fossilized, they could easily be arranged to claim that they have evolved over millions of years to show gradually increasing size. Whereas in fact, all three types are alive today.
No one has shown why small horses should become steadily larger by natural selection. Just the opposite seems to have happened in the past: modern bears, tigers, turtles, and many other animals are considerably smaller than their previous relations. The horse evolution sequence is simply a persistent myth which hangs on because no better evidence for evolution has surfaced.
From A Closer Look at the Evidence by Kleiss, June 9.
