Jonathan Wells, the author of one of the stupidest books on Intelligent Design Creationism (Icons of Evolution) has just posted a message on the Discovery Institute website [Exhuming the Peppered Mummy]. Wells says,The peppered myth died several years ago when scientists discovered that photos of peppered moths on tree trunks - used in most biology textbooks to convince students of Darwinian evolution - had been faked.In his book he reveals the extraordinary deception that has confused thousands of biology students. The photographs of peppered moths on tree trunks were staged. In some cases dead moths were pinned to the tree trunks and in other cases the moths are alive but they were carefully positioned by scientists.
Can you believe it? Look at the pictures above. I bet you thought that some photographer had set up a camera and waited for years to photograph two moths—one black and one white—to land next to each other in the camera's field. Silly you. You've been fooled. Those moths have been deliberately staged. So much for the Theory of Evolution.
Now, as it turns out there's more to the peppered moth story than this "deception." The real issue is whether the moths spend significant amounts of time on tree trunks. But that's not the point that Wells choose to make in his posting. Instead, he emphasizes the "faked" photographs as though that's the most significant aspect of the peppered moth story. Maybe it is. Maybe Wells and his friends were totally taken in by the photographs in the biology textbooks. I wouldn't be surprised. After all, that's we we call them IDiots.
[Photo Credit: The photographs are from bill.srnr.arizona. The original source is unknown.]
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