Originally posted by: cquark
Originally posted by: Riprorin
Archaeopteryx is a true bird with flight feathers: it's not a transitional form nor a feathered dinosaur.
On the contrary, Archaeopteryx has many features that are comon in reptiles but that no true bird has.
1. It doesn't have a bill.
2. Vertebrae in the trunk aren't fused as they are in birds.
3. Cervical vertebrae are shaped like those of some dinosaurs and aren't saddle-shaped as in birds.
4. The neck attaches to the rear of the skull as it does in dinosaurs, not the bottom as it does in birds.
5. The shape of the brain resembles the reptilian brain, not the bird's brain, with its enlarged cerebellum.
6. It has teeth.
In summary, the head and brain are those of older reptiles, not those of a bird.
I could go down the rest of the skeleton, discussing the differences in the ribs, the completely different pelvis, its reptilian sacrum, its lack of the fused wrist/hand bones that exist in all modern and all fossil birds, but it's already obvious that archaeopteryx is not a bird.
5. "The crushed nature of the skull in one of the specimens may have caused the problem. The general consensus now is that the brain is essentially that of a flying bird, with a large cerebellum and visual cortex."
Also, in most vertebrates, including reptiles, the mandible (lower jaw) moves, but in birds (including Archaeopteryx) so does the maxilla (upper jaw).
6. "Archaeopteryx was not the only fossil bird to have had grasping teeth. Some fossil birds had teeth, some didn?t. But how can teeth prove a relationship to reptiles, when many reptiles don?t have teeth? Crocodiles are really the only group of reptiles that consistently have very well developed teeth. And of course even some mammals have teeth and some don?t."
Evolutionists point out that it does have some characteristics which are found in other classes, such as reptiles.
"This is true, but then it?s true of almost any vertebrate skeleton. There are also design similarities between reptiles, mammals and living birds too. Birds have a distinctive, specialized skeleton because, as one distinguished evolutionist who is also an ornithologist once said, ?Birds are formed to fly.? So was Archaeopteryx."
Evolutionists sometimes claim that the fossil creature Archaeopteryx is the link between reptiles and birds.
"In Eichstátt, Germany, in 1984 there was a major meeting of scientists who specialize in bird evolution, the International Archaeopteryx Conference. They disagreed on just about anything that was covered there on this creature, but there was very broad agreement on the belief that Archaeopteryx was a true bird. Only a tiny minority thought that it was actually one of the small, lightly built coelurosaurian dinosaurs [small lightly framed dinosaurs]."
What about the wishbone?
"Archaeopteryx has a robust wishbone [furcula]. Some recent fascinating studies using moving X-rays of birds as they fly show how the shoulder girdle has to be flexible to cope with the incredible forces of the power-stroke in flight. You can actually see the wishbone flex with each wing-beat."
Do the feet of Archaeopteryx support the view that it was a dinosaur that ran along the ground?
"No. Archaeopteryx, along with all perching birds, has what is called a grasping hallux, or hind toe, pointing backwards. Rearward-facing toes may be found in some of the dinosaurs but not a true grasping hallux with curved claws for perching."
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