LYING ABOUT CHROMOSOMES AND EVOLUTION

Lying About Chromosomes

Hovind has an article on his web site called The Possum, the Redwood Tree, and the Kidney Bean: "Our Ancestors" which is labeled as a "Spoof on Evolution Theory". Hovind sets up a straw man argument claiming, supposedly for humor value, that chromosome numbers determine the position of an organism is an imaginary evolutionary time line. Hovind knows it's supposed to be a parody because he was the one who wrote it!

The Possum, the Redwood Tree, and the Kidney Bean: "Our Ancestors"

A Spoof on Evolution Theory

The theory of evolution teaches that living things are becoming more complex as time progresses. Because the chromosomes in living matter are one of the most complex bits of matter in the known universe, it would seem logical to assume that organisms with the least number of chromosomes were the first ones to evolve and those with the most chromosomes are the end result of millions of years of evolution experimenting to increase complexity in living organisms. From the chart, it is "obvious" that we all started off as penicillium with only 2 chromosomes, and that we slowly evolved into fruit flies. After many "millions of years" we turned into tomatoes (or house flies) and so on, until we reached the human stage with 46 chromosomes. One of our ancestors must have been one of the identical triplets—opossums, redwood trees, and kidney beans—with 22 chromosomes each.

If we are allowed to "continue evolving" we may someday be tobacco plants and maybe we may even become carp with 100, or maybe even the ultimate life form, a fern with 480 chromosomes! Don’t you believe it! God made this world and all life forms, as recorded in the Bible.

The Evolution of Species by Means of Increasing Number of Chromosomes
-or-
The Preservation of Complex Life Forms in the Struggle for Life

-By Dr. Kent Hovind-

	Number of Chromosomes:
Fern	480	The ultimate goal.
White Ash	138
Carp	100
Goldfish	94
Sweet Potato	90
Turkey	82
Chicken Dog Duck	78 78 78	Identical Triplets!
Horse	64
Cow	60
Silkworm	56
Cotton	52
Amoeba	50
Chimp Tobacco	48 48	Identical Twins!
Human	46
Bat	44
Wheat	42
Soybean	40
Cat	38
Starfish	36
Apple	34
Alligator Onion	32 32	Identical Twins!
Frog	26
Opossum Redwood Kidney Bean	22 22 22	Identical Triplets!
Corn Marijuana Carrot	20 20 20	Identical Triplets!
Lettuce	18
Honeybee	16
Garden Pea	14
House Fly Tomato	12 12	Identical Twins!
Fruit Fly	8
Penicillium	2

Yet this work of fiction has taken on a life of its own. Over the years it has moved from being an example of Hovind's corny sense of humor to a fully functional evolutionary model. The process of this change is so well documented I considered the title "The Evolution of a Lie".

From circa 1999 [1],

I did some research on this, folks. I decided the more chromosomes you have, the more complex you must be because it is the most complex molecule in the universe; and so I arranged a bunch of animals and plants in order based upon the number of chromosomes they had.

I discovered that penicillin [sic] has two chromosomes. Fruit flies have eight. There are a few missing links in there three, four, five, six, seven. I don't know where they went, but I do believe from this research that I could prove that penicillin [sic] slowly evolved into fruit flies. And then over billions of years, they got more chromosomes someplace and turned into either a housefly or a tomato. (They are twins, you know! Pretty tough to tell the difference.) They both have 12 chromosomes.

And then very slowly over billions of years we got more chromosomes and became a pea. [....] Very slowly over millions of years we got enough chromosomes to become a human. Here we are folks: we have forty-six. And if we can just get two more we are going to be a tobacco plant! [.....]

Why don't they teach the kids about the chromosome number as proof for evolution? I’ll tell you why: because it goes totally against the theory. You won't find that mentioned anyplace! Those are facts, folks! Chromosome number does not prove evolution. That's all a farce, of course. And evolution itself is a farce. [emphasis added]

Hovind has the audience taking in every word as gospel until the second last sentence.

In the slide show version of this presentation [2], Hovind listed the following reasons for DNA not to have occurred by evolutionary mechanisms;

DNA is too complex to have arisen by chance
Similarities in code prove a common designer
The chromosome # does not follow the expected pattern [emphasis added]
Very little is known about the workings of DNA

Hovind attempted to use his "chromosome" argument in a debate with Dr. William Moore, September 24, 1998. [6]

HOVIND .... I suspect you are aware that humans have 46 chromosomes and tobacco has 48. And amoebas have 50. And yet the evolution textbooks constantly say we came from an amoeba-like creature and yet they have already got more chromosomes than we do. They're ahead of us, not behind us.

MOORE Actually, I don't even know what species has most chromosomes but it's certainly not related to phylogenetic progression. I know of no evolutionary biologist that makes that claim.

HOVIND I agree that no evolutionary biologist makes that claim because the data is so against that theory. I've got a chart ...

MOORE No, no, no .......

By the year 2000 the boundary between fact and fiction was nonexistent [3]

Truth of the matter is, if you organize the animals based upon the number of chromosomes, you don’t get anything similar to what they say happened in evolution. The earliest life form, according to the chromosome number, would be the penicillin. They only have two chromosomes. And over billions of years the penicillin turned into a fruit fly with eight. And then the fruit fly slowly evolved, [.....]

They say that apes and humans have similar DNA. The truth of the matter is, the chimpanzee has the same number of chromosomes as the tobacco plant. They both have more than humans have. So the similarity would break down right there. And the most complex creature in the world, of course, would be the fern. They’ve got 480 chromosomes. So this idea is ridiculous. [emphasis added]

Hovind repeated this lie in a debate with Dr Hugh Ross (Old Earth Creationist) in October 2000 [4]

Oh, yeah, I’ve got a chart on my website, drdino.com, people can look at, you know. Penicilium only has two chromosomes, you know, so that must have evolved first. And then fruit flies have eight, so they must be the next form, you know. [.....] Man has 46. Tobacco has 48. So if we keep evolving, we’re all gonna be a tobacco plant. I mean, the whole idea is absurd, and how they believe this I don’t know. [emphasis added]

September 2002, Hovind made the claim yet again. [5]