This discovery creates serious problems regarding the evolu-
tionary phases between living creatures. The songs of birds that can
imitate sound are genetically coded, as opposed to sounds that they
learn later in life. Of these, however, only adult songbirds, parrots
and hummingbirds have the ability to learn songs and repeat them
accurately. According to Erich Jarvis, a neurobiologist at Duke
University Medical Center, this kind of vocal learning closely re-
sembles the process by which humans learn to speak. Surprisingly,
this research shows that birds
skilled at vocal learning are in a
completely different branch of
the so-called evolutionary path.
What’s more, none of the species
that evolutionists claim are close-
ly related to these birds can learn
any similar songs.
Regarding this subject, two
evolutionary scenarios are put forward. The first states that all birds
come from a common ancestor with the necessary brain structure for
imitating sounds but that somehow, only certain species developed
the ability. The other species were unsuccessful in this respect and
lost these skills over time. However, this scenario is not given cred-
it, not even by many evolutionists! According to celebrated neurobi-
ologist Erich Jarvis, it seems extremely unlikely that this trait could
be gained or lost more than once in
both
birds and mammals.
28
If this
kind of undeveloped brain structure exists, asks Jarvis, then why is
it not present in reptiles and dinosaurs as well?
29
Evolutionists put forward a second scenario: that in the brains
of these three birds, these learning structures each evolved indepen-
dently of one another. This claim is not only scientifically unfound-
The Miracle of Talking Birds
74
Dr. Erich Jarvis,
of Duke University
