Deer in Black and White | The Institute for Creation Research

Deer in Black and White

White-tailed deer are generally brown, but sometimes they can appear all black or all white. Photographer Richard Buquoi captured striking photographs of a dark fawn in 20101 and verified the images when some questioned whether his photographs were real: "I took the photos of the black fawn near Austin, TX. That area of central Texas seems to have a concentration of black 'white-tailed' deer, although it is still extremely rare to find them. This is a wild deer, but resides in a greenbelt near a neighborhood."2

Melanism is the name of the darkened coat effect in animals, but what causes it?

"[Researchers] admit that they aren't sure, but they say the mutation likely has been perpetuated because it offers a survival advantage," according to an article appearing on the North American Whitetail magazine's website.3

Well, the reason that evolutionary researchers would say that the trait was born from "survival advantage" is because that is standard Darwinian doctrine. But it does not express the results of scientific tests. Alternatives deserve consideration and could also be tested. For example, what if the darker color is not caused by an accidental mutation but by a purposefully designed genetic switch? Evolutionists have had trying times interpreting evidence for non-random mutation.4, 5

And just because something "offers a survival advantage" does not mean it becomes a real creature feature. An instinct to avoid traffic would give squirrels a survival advantage, but they persist in trying to juke straight-rolling tires.

So, the melanistic deer trait could have arisen by an accidental genetic mutation or by unfolding an aspect of a pre-planned genetic suite of coat color options. How would a biologist test these ideas?

One would first need to discover the genetic cause of this trait—a difficult and costly task. Is melanism caused by a rare allele, a difference in regulatory sequence, a combination of these, or some other genetic cue? Even knowing that would not necessarily reveal the true history of how the allele or other DNA difference arose. Did it arise by mutation, or by any of the increasingly discovered numbers of genetic shuffling algorithms?6 The answers may not come soon.

Meanwhile, deer express other rare coat colors. Some visitors to the Seneca Army Depot in New York state have seen dozens of bright white deer among the hundreds protected there. They are not truly albino, because although their hair lacks pigment, their eyes and hooves do not. The ratio of white to normal brown deer has risen since the first observation of a white buck and fawn in the late 1940s.

From the perspective of Scripture, God would have given deer effective survival traits, including the potential for those traits to shift in preparation for survival or fitting into a changed environment as its generations fill the earth. But who is to say that He would not also have planted within the deer kind creative expressions of His painter's palette?

References

  1. Black Whitetail Fawn. R. M. Buquoi Photographics. Posted on rmbuquoiphoto.photoshelter.com May 24, 2010, accessed January 29, 2013.
  2. Black Fawn. Snopes. Posted on snopes.com August 15, 2010, accessed January 29, 2013.
  3. Whittington, G. Rarest Whitetails Of All? North American Whitetail. Posted on northamericanwhitetail.com September 22, 2010, accessed January 29, 2013.
  4. Caporale, L. H. 2000. Mutation is modulated: implications for evolution. Bioessays. 22 (4):388-395.
  5. Mishmar, D. et al. 2003. Natural selection shaped regional mtDNA variation in humans. Procedures of the National Academy of Sciences. 100 (1): 171–176.
  6. Some examples: transposition, homologous recombination, controlled mutagenesis, gene accordion, retroviruses, or insertion sequences.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on February 15, 2013.

The Latest
NEWS
Giant ''Meg'' Shark: Longer and Leaner?
Fossil remains of the giant shark Otodus megalodon have been found in Miocene1 and Pliocene2 rock layers, which ICR scientists...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Searching for Truth Across the Globe | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How can we bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of creation to others outside our small spheres of influence?   Host...

NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...