Living Dinosaurs or Just Birds?
Evolutionary enthusiasts today claim that you can see live dinosaurs hovering around
the hummingbird feeder. What are the facts?
By Daniel Anderson
Published: 5 December 2006 (GMT+10)
So which is it? Kentucky Fried Chicken or Kentucky Fried Dinosaur? Should we actually
refer to songdinos instead of songbirds? In short, did some dinosaurs really evolve
into birds?
Theropod dinosaurs share many skeletal similarities with birds. In addition, fairly
recent fossil discoveries in China have caused evolutionists to claim that several
theropods may have possessed feathers. So what makes a bird a bird and what makes
a dinosaur a dinosaur?
Before we analyze the facts about theropods and birds, we need to put on our biblical
glasses. God’s Word tells us that He created all creatures as distinct kinds.
Winged creatures, such as the various bird kinds, were created unique and fully
formed on Day Five, while land animals, such as theropods, were created unique and
fully formed on Day Six. Therefore, no evolutionary relationship exists between
theropod dinosaurs and birds.
And there is an abundance of scientific evidence to substantiate this claim. There
is a biological chasm separating these wonderful creatures, one that can never be
crossed by the bridge of evolution. Let’s take a closer look!
Pelvis
There are two groups of dinosaurs: ‘bird-hipped’ or ornithischian (including
Stegosaurus, Camptosaurus, and Triceratops), and ‘reptile-hipped’
or saurischian (including T. rex and Brachiosaurus). However,
birds are alleged to have evolved from the reptile-hipped dinosaurs, not the bird-hipped
ones!1 So the similarity of
hips of birds to bird-hipped dinosaurs is called a homoplasy, and attributed to
convergent evolution.
But it’s more likely that the ornithischian dinosaurs shared a similar pelvis
design with birds because they all were made by the same Designer. This would be
consistent with the biotic message theory, as proposed by Walter ReMine
in
The Biotic Message. That is, the evidence from nature points to
a single designer, but with a pattern which thwarts evolutionary explanations,
such as widespread homoplasies.
Keeled Sternum
Flying birds often possess a keeled sternum, which serves as an attachment point
for the flight muscles. However, two non-flying terrestrial creatures have been
discovered with keeled sternums. Mononykus, a theropod dinosaur, shares
this bird-like feature, and some evolutionists got excited about this apparent support
for their theories. However, so does the mole, a digging mammal, and many now believe
that Mononykus was a digging dinosaur (see
Flighty flap). Moles
also have wrist bones that are very bird-like as well. It appears that a common
Designer utilized a similar design in different creatures.
Wing Claws
Ancient birds such as Archaeopteryx, Sinornis, and Confuciusornis
had wing claws. Living birds such as ostriches, emus, hoatzin, turacos, moorhens,
and coots also possess wing claws, at least at some stage of their life, though
they are different in shape and size.2
Theropods did not have wings, but they had long, sharp claws on their forelimbs.
Claws do not define reptiles or birds.
Teeth
Theropods had sharp, serrated teeth, while many ancient birds had small, peg-like
teeth. It is strange to think of birds having teeth, because no living bird exists
with teeth. However, extinct birds such as
Archaeopteryx, Sinornis, Confusiusornis, Hesperornis,
and Ichthyornis all had teeth. Mutations can cause some living birds to
develop teeth—see Chickens
with Teeth.
Not all reptiles have teeth. Turtles are toothless. The Pteranodon, an
extinct flying reptile, did not have teeth. Teeth are not defining characteristics
of either birds or reptiles.
Beaks
It is a common notion that dinosaur jaws evolved into bird beaks in order to lighten
the load for flying. However, we’ve already seen that some ancient birds possessed
teeth. Bats are extremely capable flyers and they too have teeth. Obviously, the
presence of teeth does not inhibit flight.
Beaks are lightweight, but some birds have huge, cumbersome beaks. The Indian hornbill,
toucan, and pelican all have enormous beak sizes and they are still capable flyers.3
Beaks are unique structures and require a distinct genetic code to create. They
are not modifications of scales around a reptile’s mouth.
Shoulder Joints
Theropod dinosaurs did not have the anatomical machinery in the shoulder joints
to lift their forelimbs upward. Birds can take off effectively because of a sophisticated
pulley system in their shoulder joints. Theropods did not have this machinery, because
they were not designed to fly.
One dinosaur, named Unenlagia, did have a highly mobile shoulder joint
that was quite bird-like. However, at over 2.5 m (8 ft) tall it was way too big
to lift off the ground.4 Without
observational evidence, it is not known how Unenlagia may have used its
unique shoulder joint.
Feathers
Feathers are not modified scales, nor do they grow out of scales. They are truly
unique biological structures that require their own special design template. (See
the section on feathers in
chapter 4 of
Refuting Evolution.)
Today, we only see feathers on birds. Of course, this does not mean that in the
past, only birds bore feathers. Some theropods may have possessed feathers as well,
for all we know. However, despite enthusiastic evolutionary claims for ‘feathered
dinosaurs’, to date no such claim has stood up; some so-called feathers are
likely collagen fibres—see
Dino feather folly). Note that if feathered dinosaurs were indeed to be
discovered in the fossil record, this would not be proof for dinosaur-bird evolution
(see for example ‘BPM
1 3–13’—have they finally found a true feathered dinosaur?).
There are many creatures with unorthodox skin coverings. For example, the pangolin
is a scaly mammal. The hairy frog is an amphibian that sports hair-like fibers on
parts of its body during mating season. Some fish and crustaceans also possess hair-like
filaments. It has often been claimed that extinct reptiles such as pterosaurs were
covered in a thin layer of fur, though this view has been
challenged. Why couldn’t a dinosaur with, say, a layer of insulating
feathers still be a true dinosaur? A feathered dinosaur (if that were ever demonstrated)
would be just another mosaic creature in God’s amazing creation.
Bipedalism
Like birds, theropod dinosaurs were bipedal. Based on skeletal design, theropods
were likely fast and agile on their two legs. Once again, the Lord God utilized
a common design blueprint when creating theropods and birds as distinct kinds. But
as Alan Feduccia, an evolutionary paleo-ornithologist who scathingly rejects the
dino-to-bird dogma, says: ‘It’s biophysically impossible to evolve flight
from such large bipeds with foreshortened forelimbs and heavy, balancing tails’,
exactly the wrong anatomy for flight.5
Many creatures are bipedal. Apes possess some degree of bipedality (although not
even the alleged ape-woman Lucy walked in any human way). Bears, raccoons, kangaroos,
and other animals can move bipedally in their own unique ways.
Lungs
The flow-through lung of a bird has no parallel in the animal
kingdom.
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The flow-through lung of a bird has no parallel in the animal kingdom. Its unique
lung is vastly distinct from the bellows (in-out) lung of a reptile. The reptilian
lung is similar to the amphibian and mammalian lungs, but the avian lung stands
alone in the animal world. See also
Blown away by design: Michael Denton and birds’ lungs.
The soft tissue remnants of a colon, liver, intestines, and abdominal muscle in
the extinct theropod, Scipionyx, strongly suggest that theropods possessed
a similar respiratory system to that of crocodiles and not birds. It is inconceivable
how a reptilian lung could change into a bird lung—how would it breathe while the
airflow direction changed? See also
Dinos breathed like birds?
Reproduction
Dinosaurs laid eggs, as do birds. Fossil evidence also suggests that some dinosaurs
may have brooded their eggs in a similar manner to birds.
There is another animal, not thought by evolutionists to be in any way related to
birds, that shares several reproductive features and habits with birds. The platypus,
a bizarre mammal, builds a nest, lays a small clutch of eggs, and broods its young
like birds. In addition, the platypus possesses a system of ovaries that is very
similar to that found in birds.6
Hand Digits
After analyzing ostrich embryos, some scientists discovered that only digits 2,
3 and 4 develop in the wings of birds. Theropod hands seem to have developed from
digits 1, 2 and 3. This speaks strongly against one group being the ancestor of
another. See Ostrich eggs
break dino-to-bird theory.
Temporal Paradox
Using evolutionary methods and assumptions, the string of allegedly
‘feathered dinosaurs’ is dated as younger than birds such as
Archaeopteryx, Sinornis, and even older than the ‘first
bird’ (with a beak of the modern variety, minus teeth), Confuciusornis.
Evolutionists have to do very fancy footwork to explain why we find the alleged
transitional forms millions of years after their supposed descendants.
According to the Bible, birds and theropods were created as different kinds that
lived contemporaneously.
The Final Answer
We can safely conclude that people eat KFC, not KFD. We can still refer to
songbirds, not songdinos. Birds are not ‘living dinosaurs’,
nor did they descend from dinosaurs.
Birds and dinosaurs are similar in some ways, but vastly different in other ways.
The overall picture confirms that birds and dinosaurs have always been distinct
creatures, just as the Bible teaches.
References
- Sodera, V. One Small Speck to Man, p. 253
Return to text.
- Ref. 1, p. 239. Return to text.
- Ref. 1, p. 267. Return to text.
- Ref. 1, p. 247. Return to text.
- Cited by Ann Gibbons, ‘New Feathered Fossil Brings
Dinosaurs and Birds Closer’, Science 274:720–721,
1996.
Return to text.
- Erica Cromer, Monotreme Reproductive Biology and Behavior, 14 April
2004. Return to text.
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