Why can’t a kiwi bird fly?
– Kiwis are native New Zealand birds, and they are endangered, because they cannot fly away from their predators. It’s a similar story with the Australian emu. I have actually asked a few creationists this question, and here is one of the answers I received: “God is making the birds easier for their predators to catch and eat.” I, being a fan of science, can’t say that I am deeply impresed with this answer. In the light of evolution, we can easily answer this question (and remember that we have supporting evidence – we’re not just making uneducated guesses as we go along). The kiwi bird’s tiny wing is a vestigial organ. It evolved for a reason but it no longer serves that particular purpose (this doesn’t mean that the wings are useless now – if you look at an ostrich, you will find that the wings effectively help her outrun her predators). Since the evolutionary history of the kiwi bird is rather cloudy, I should like to take examples from the Galapagos islands instead. When the early
