God Creation and the Cosmos: Charles Darwin

Darwin Saw the Whale in the Black Bear

Darwin stated in the first edition of "The Origin of Species": "In North America the black bear was seen by Hearne swimming for hours with widely open mouth, thus catching, like a whale, insects in the water. Even in so extreme a case as this, if the supply of insects were constant, and if better adapted competitors did not already exist in the country,

I can see no difficulty in a race of bears being rendered, by natural selection, more aquatic in their structure and habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale," he speculated.

First Edition 24th Nov 1859
Chap VI. Pg 184

ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
OR THE PRESERVATION OF FAVOURED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE.
By Charles Darwin, M.A.,
Fellow Of The Royal, Geological, Linnaean, Etc., Societies;
Author Of 'Journal Of Researches During H.M.S. Beagle's Voyage Round The World.'
From the First Edition LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1859. Down, Bromley, Kent, October 1st, 1859.

Darwin omitted this story in other
editions, but regretted his revision

"I still maintain that there is no special difficulty in a bear's mouth being enlarged to any degree useful to its changing habits"

("More Letters of Charles Darwin,"1903,page 162). JOHN L.GITTLEMAN Associate Professor of Zoology, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tenn., May 3

Article from The New York Times To The Editor Published May 16th 1994

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/16/opinion/l-darwin-saw-the-whale-in-the-black-bear-097454.html