Birds: fliers from the beginning
by Jonathan Sarfati
Evolutionists claim that Archaeopteryx is an intermediate between reptiles
and birds. One problem is that ‘Archie’ and even the beaked bird Confuciusornis
are ‘dated’, even by the evolutionists’ own methods, as millions
of years older than their alleged dinosaur ancestors!
But it’s clear that Archie had fully formed bird features. For example, it
had a perching foot.1 This means
that its wings would have needed to be advanced enough to produce the special wing
turbulences (leading edge vortices) that those of modern birds form, so that it
could land.2 Indeed, it also had:
Archaeopteryx
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Confuciusornis
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- Classical elliptical wings like modern woodland birds.1
- Fully-formed flying feathers (including asymmetric vanes and ventral, reinforcing
furrows as in modern flying birds).1
- A large wishbone for attachment of strong muscles responsible for the downstroke
of the wings.
- The same unique avian lung design with air sacs and one-directional
airflow,3 totally different from
the bellows-like lungs of a reptile.4
- A brain like a modern bird’s, three times the size of that of a dinosaur of
equivalent size. The brain even had large optic lobes to process the visual input
needed for flying.5
- An inner ear with a cochlear length and semicircular canal proportions in the range
of a modern flying bird’s. This implies that Archaeopteryx could
hear in a similar way, and also had the sense of balance required for coordinating
flight.5
These features show it [Archaeopteryx] was a true bird—neither a
missing link nor a forgery
Note also, these obvious avian features are totally incompatible with the
idea that Archaeopteryx was a forgery, i.e. that it was just a dinosaur
fossil with fake feather imprints. These features show it was a true bird—neither
a missing link nor a forgery.6
References
- Feduccia, A., Evidence from claw geometry indicating arboreal
habits of Archaeopteryx, Science 259(5096):790–793,
5 Feb. 1993. Return to text.
- Sarfati, J., Fancy flying from advanced aeronautics: The design
of swifts and jet fighters, Creation 29(1):37–39,
2006; after Videler, J.J., Stamhuis, E.J. and Povel, G.D.E., Leading-edge vortex
lifts swifts, Science 306(5703):1960–1962, 10 December
2004. Return to text.
- Christiansen, P. and Bonde, N., Axial and appendicular pneumaticity
in Archaeopteryx, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,
Series B. 267:2501–2505, 2000. Return to text.
- Blown away
by design: Michael Denton and birds’ lungs, Creation 21(4):14–15,
1999. Return to text.
- Alonso, P.D., Milner, A.C., Ketcham, R.A., Cookson, M.J and
Rowe, T.B., The avian nature of the brain and inner ear of Archaeopteryx,
Nature 430(7000):666–669, 5 August 2004; Witmer,
L.M, Inside the oldest bird brain, perspective, same issue, pp. 619–620. Return to text.
- Sarfati, J.,
Archaeopteryx (unlike Archaeoraptor) is NOT a hoax—it is
a true bird, not a ‘missing link’, 2000–2004.
Return to text.
Published: 8 May 2007 (GMT+10)
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