Dinosaurs Couldn't Have Evolved Into Birds

Scientists point to crucial differences in their lung systems and other problems.

SUMMARY: A recent idea that has gained popularity among many evolutionists is that birds evolved from a group of dinosaurs known as theropods. Nature magazine has been pushing this idea as has the National Geographic (which had promoted Archaeoraptor as the missing link only to have it shown to be a hoax). Many museums are also presenting this claim as fact.

Not all mainstream scientists are convinced. Storrs Olson, the curator of birds at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington said, “The idea of feathered dinosaurs and the theropod origin of birds is being actively promulgated by a cadre of zealous scientists acting in concert with certain editors at Nature and National Geographic who themselves have become outspoken and highly biased proselytizers of the faith.”

Another doubter is Dr. Alan Feduccia, a bird authority at the U. of North Carolina, who criticized the idea on two grounds: anatomical and chronological. “It’s biophysically impossible to evolve flight from such large bipeds with foreshortened forelimbs and heavy, balancing tails, exactly the wrong anatomy for flight,” he says. Also, he notes that the claimed "featured dinosaur ancestors" are "dated" as being 28 million years younger than Archaeopteryx, believed by evolutionists to be the first bird. "You can't be older than your grandfather!" says Feduccia.

Another problem with the belief in a dinosaur-bird link involves their lung systems. Reptilian lungs operate like bellows, somewhat similar to our own lungs, but birds have a complicated system of air sacs which keeps the air flowing in one direction through special tubes while blood is moving through the lung's blood vessels in the opposite direction. Archaeopteryx already had the through-flow avian lung system of modern birds while its later "ancestors" did not. Researcher John Ruben of Oregon State U. also noted that reptilian lungs could not have gradually evolved into avian lungs because the animals could not have breathed with lungs in transition.

Ruben, along with OSU colleague Dr Devon Quick have made a new discovery concerning the fixed femur (thigh bone) of birds. It appears that these fixed femurs are essential for birds to keep their air-sac lungs from collapsing inwards when the bird inhales. Theropods had moving femurs that couldn't have supported avian air sacs.

Quick, Ruben and Feduccia are not rejecting evolution. They believe it is possible birds and dinosaurs had a common ancestor, but "it just seems pretty clear now that birds were evolving all along on their own and did not descend directly from the theropod dinosaurs, which lived many millions of years later.” No such common ancestor though has been found.

To read the entire article click on this CREATION MINISTRIES INTERNATONAL link.

COMMENT: As the author of the CMI article suggests, scientists on both sides of this debate are partly right, but mostly wrong. The promoters of the supposed dinosaur-bird link are correct in rejecting the idea that birds and reptiles evolved from a common ancestor. Ruben and Quick are right that birds did not evolve directly from theropods. They all are wrong, however, in believing that there is any kind of a link between birds and reptiles other than the fact they have a common Creator.

This controversy is just another example of the difficulties in trying to reconstruct something that allegedly happened millions of years ago. I believe the world would be far better off if the day comes when true scientists stick to applying the scientific method to solving current problems. They should forget about inventing "just so" stories about the past, because there will always be controversy, not just between creationists and evolutionists, but as we've seen in so many cases, evolutionist vs. evolutionist.

For those who want to know about the past, we have a perfectly reliable account by the One who has been there from the beginning. I am talking, of course, about the Holy Bible and the Lord who inspired its writings. The Bible not only tells us everything we need to know about the past, it informs us about the future, and it has good news for those who have repented of their sins and come to faith in Jesus as their Savior. The good news is the promise of an eternal life of complete happiness in heaven.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

What are two substances that are harder than diamonds?

Researchers in China and the U.S. have determined that the mineral ionsdaleite (made of carbon) is 58% harder than diamonds and wurtzite boron nitride is 18% harder. Although occurring in nature, these substances are very rare and are difficult to make in the laboratory.

Source: Discover magazine (July/August, 2009)