Counters to Conservapedia (Part 4): Males and Females

From Conservapedia's List of Counterexamples to Evolution:

For evolution to be true, every male dog, cat, horse, elephant, giraffe, fish and bird had to have coincidentally evolved with a female alongside it (over billions of years) with fully evolved compatible reproductive parts and a desire to mate, otherwise the species couldn't keep going.

From The University of Arizona

This misunderstanding shows up often.  People seem to think that one organisms changes into the next species one at a time.  Evolution does not involve an individual independently transforming into a new species.  

Here is what really happens.  A large population of reproducing individuals (with both males and females) become two smaller, isolated groups (with both males and females).  Over time, their DNA changes, leading to new characteristics and “signature” adaptations.  Some changes will be beneficial, while others will not.  Eventually, the two smaller groups will have accumulated enough changes from each other that they are no longer considered to be of the same species.  They no longer recognize each other as a possible mate.  At no point does a new species spring up because one male evolves at the same time as one female.  

The group changes over time.  That is evolution.