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The species Biston betularia used in researches has a feature of close interest to our subject matter here. These moths are nocturnal; they are active during the night hours and rest during the day, returning to their resting places before sunrise—before they can be hunted down by birds—and remain there, motionless, for the rest of the day.
In Kettlewell's experiments, the moths were released in the morning—that is, in daylight—and were observed throughout the day. At night they were recaptured, so that the research was carried out at times incompatible with the moths' lifestyle. Kettlewell was actually aware of this, but maintained that this would not affect the results of his experiment.291
In fact, however, Kettlewell's assumption was too great an error to be overlooked. Daylight caused the moths to become confused and lose their way, and thus to land on trees that would make them easy prey for birds. And in fact, the species B. betularia actually does not spend its days resting on tree trunks at all. The idea that these insects do is an error going back some 20 years.
In the early 1980s, research by Kauri Mikkola from Helsinki University into caged Biston betularia moths first revealed this. Mikkola, a zoologist, observed that the moths rarely landed on tree trunks and normally rested beneath thin, more or less horizontal branches.292 Nocturnal moths released under a very limited light selected their resting places very quickly, and in an irregular manner. In short, Kettlewell made a grave error in assuming that Biston betularia moths rested (or slept) on tree trunks.
Researchers investigating these moths' behavior in their natural habitat confirmed Mikkola's findings. In a 25-year study, Sir Cyril Clarke and his colleagues stated that they only found one peppered moth on a tree trunk.293 Two researchers well known for their studies in this field, Rory Howlett and Michael Majerus from Cambridge University, stated that they had come up with similar results: "... it seems certain that most B. betularia rest where they are hidden ... [and] that exposed areas of tree trunks are not an important resting site for any form of B. betularia."294 Dr. Majerus of the Cambridge University Genetics Department collected their findings in a book, Melanism: Evolution in Action. He noted that despite some 40 years of intense research on this subject, he had encountered only two Biston betularia moths on tree trunks and stated that this represented the most serious problem facing Kettlewell's thesis.295 Professor Jerry Coyne of Chicago University, himself an evolutionist, admitted that this fact by itself was sufficient to invalidate Kettlewell's experiments.296
Other researchers, the British biologists Tony Liebert and Paul Brakefield, have confirmed this. In 1987 these two scientists proved that this species of moth generally spends its resting time underneath or on the sides of narrow branches.297
The fact we need to concentrate on is that Kettlewell resorted to artificial methods in order to prove evolution through natural selection. B. betularia moths sleep beneath horizontal branches, concealing themselves from birds and other predators. The only reason for the experiments to ignore such an important fact is Darwinist dogma. Evolutionists feel justified in engaging in all kinds of distortions to find evidence for Darwinism. Yet on every occasion, science dashes their hopes.
References
- Bernard Kettlewell, "Selection experiments on industrial melanism in the Lepidoptera," Heredity, Vol. 9, 1955, p. 340. ↩
- Kauri Mikkola, "On the selective forces acting in the industrial melanism of Biston and Oligia moths (Lepidoptera: Geometridae and Noctuidae)," Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vvol. 21, 1984, pp. 409-421. ↩
- C.A. Clarke, G.S. Mani, andG. Wynne, "Evolution in reverse: clean air and the peppered moth," Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 26, 1985, pp. 189-199. ↩
- R.J. Howlett, M.E.N. Majerus, "The understanding of industrial melanism in the peppered moth (Biston betularia) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae)," Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 30, 1987, p. 40. ↩
- Jerry A. Coyne, "Not black and white," Nature, Vol. 396, 5 November 1998, pp. 35-36. ↩
- İbid. ↩
- T.G. Liebert, P.M. Brakefield, "Behavioural studies on the peppered moth Biston betularia and a discussion of the role of pollution and lichens in industrial melanism," Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 31, 1987, pp. 129-150. ↩