Weasels, Badgers and Otters

Genesis 1:24

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”

Listeners may not be aware that a huge amount of research has been done by creation scientists into how species of animals can be grouped into baramins. The word baramin comes from two Hebrew words – bārā and min – which together mean created kind. The largest amount of such research has been invested in which kinds were on the Ark, as, in most cases, only one pair of a baramin would have gone aboard – though seven pairs of clean animals were saved.

Some baramins are quite obvious. We think that we are aware of what creatures form part of the cat or the horse baramin. In these cases, appearance is often enough to help us group them. In other cases, the existence of a hybrid between two species tells us that they are in the same baramin. But others seem less obvious on the surface. In most cases, the creationist concept of baramin is the same as an evolutionary family, but not always. Sometimes, a baramin is at the superfamily level (pigs and peccaries) and sometimes at the order level (elephants).

Evolutionists have long placed weasels, badgers and otters in the same taxonomic family. Hybridization between members of the weasel order, such as martens and polecats, is known. But a hybrid between a badger and a weasel seems less plausible. Nevertheless, it makes sense that these should be grouped together, in which case all badgers, otters and weasels descended from one pair of animals which emerged from the Ark.    Author: Paul F. Taylor

 Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for people of faith, who believe Your word, and whom You have gifted to be able to research deeper into the creation that You have made. Amen.

Ref: Lightner, J.K. (2012), Mammalian Ark Kinds, Answers Research Journal 5 (2012):151–204. www.answersingenesis.org/arj/v5/mammalian-ark-kinds.pdf. Image: CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported.