Why do textbooks use fruit flies with an extra pair of wings as proof of evolution?

Question

Even though the extra wings have no muscles and these disabled mutants cannot live outside the labratory?

Four winged fruit flies do not occur naturally but are carefully bred from three artificially maintained mutant strains.

Yeow off the top here is one textbook Peter Raven & George Johnson's 1999 textbook biology features a photo of a four wing fruit fly.

Answer 1

Because they are desperate to prove the unprovable, that evolution is a fact. Those mutant fruit flies were still fruit flies. They did not become a different species of insect. As the Bible says, everything produces after its kind. Gen. 1:21.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as "proof," and I don't think the scientist working on this said it was "proof." It is an experiment that demonstated evidence of evolution. The fact that they can't live outside the labratory only demonstrates more evidence for evolution. That is why fruit flies don't have an extra pair of wings in nature. Think a little beyond what other's have told you. You don't have to be an athiest to have a mind.

Answer 3

A Russian scientist Mendeleev used to study them in the 19 th Century. They have a short life span and seem to readily mutate. He offered this as a proof of Evolution. One issue with Evolution is that there are no life forms that you can point to that are actively evolving. Even Primates. There are monkeys, gorillas, humans, rhesus monkeys etc and yes they find some similar animal behaviors but no living primate has structures of one species and a new evolving specie at the same time.

I think Evolution is speculation about how life came about. The complexity of life makes it improbable that it would have gotten started in the first place and on a micro level Evolution explains nothing. On a macro level they can point to some genus of animal life and make a statement that they found some similarities between living animals or plants and some fossils they discovered. That's usually how they offer "scientific proof" of Evolution.

Since Evolutionist like to speculate here's my own speculation about humanity. G-d decided to create a life form in his image with a living soul. Since this new life had to be able to survive he choose the primate as the model. Perhaps he built a lifeless statue out of clay similar to a Primate. Than he saw all these gigantic creatures (dinosaurs) roaming the earth that he created and realized that the meat eaters would kill them before they could populate the earth. So he sent an asteroid crashing into the earth and created darkness. The darkness killed all the plants which ultimately caused all these gigantic creatures to starve to death. Than he breathed life into his statue of clay and called it Adam. Than he took from Adam's essence a woman to be his companion and helper. Than the woman who was wiser and more worldly in her thinking than her VERY innocent male companion spoke to another being.

She became desirable to Adam and they laid together mixing their essence and creating new life.
Chow

Answer 4

Every text book I've ever read has cited that as a mutation that has no real affect.

The two are closely linked though, after all, the fly my fly better if it were to develop the muscles and nervous system for the wings.

Answer 5

It shows that species can change. It is one of many examples of laboratory and observed in nature of species changing over time. The fruit fly experiment wasn't to prove evolution, it was to see how quickly certain types of changes take place.

Answer 6

Your guess is as good as mine. I would have to read the lab report to find out why they made that strange assumption. Keep in mind, that the interpretation of data is what science is all about...unfortunately, the interpretation is not always correct...i.e. look at all the old theories they have changed in the past twenty years even. At one point they stated something as fact, then changed it when a new discovery was made....and they will keep stating things as fact until the next discovery comes along.

Answer 7

Because they show variation in a population and I don't remember all of the evidence from that specific example but if they are used as part of the proof for evolution they most likely show that favorable traits in a population will survive while those that are unfavorable will eventually disappear from the population.

Answer 8

they do not. although some believe that this does prove evolution.

what it does prove, and what was written in the text books 30 years ago when i was in high-school and jr. high before that, is the proof that with a sport (genetic mutation) that the extra pair of wings, eyes or even hybrid eye colour can be caused to occur.

fruit flies are used because they reproduce in such vast numbers.

-eagle

Answer 9

Could it be that it is because NO PROOF FOR THE THEORY OF evolution exhists so they have to invent some to fool the gullible species always produce their own kind that is a FACT Gorbalizer

Answer 10

Whoa, that's a stretch. How about dogs as an example instead, through selective breeding and passing on of genes animals can change and acquire/reinforce traits to better help them survive/perform in their environment.
Not exactly evolution but close and easily observable and provable.