Page 169 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

fter Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859,
the search began for intermediate forms to verify
his claims. Darwinians regarded the first
Archaeopteryx fossil, found in the Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria
in 1861, as evidence that would prove their theory valid. The skel-
eton of Archaeopteryx (which name, in Latin, means “wing left over
from ancient times”) was placed in a bank vault for protection. The
importance of this fossil, 30 centimeters (11.811 inches) in length,
the size of a modern-day crow, stemmed from its features, which
Darwinists alleged belonged to both birds and reptiles. With great
excitement—and bias—they portrayed the fossil as an intermedi-
ate form. It took its place in many museum exhibitions and text-
books as definitive proof of evolution. Meanwhile, criticisms
regarding the fossils, as well as the inconsistencies that emerged,
were all ignored.
A number of features peculiar to Archaeopteryx led evolution-
ists to interpret it as a transitional species between reptiles and
birds. It was suggested that this 150-million-year-old fossil bore the
half-reptile characteristics of an extinct species that had lived long
before birds. Archaeopteryx’s feathered claws on its arms, the teeth
in its beak and bony, reptile-like tail led to its being interpreted as
evidence of the theory of evolution. On account of the similarities,
Thomas Huxley, one of Darwin’s supporters, first proposed in 1870
the idea that Archaeopteryx was descended from dinosaurs. 113
According to the theory of evolution, the forelegs of certain
small dinosaurs called Velociraptors or Dromaeosaurs—a group of
small and medium-sized carnivorous dinosaurs that lived 144 to
66.4 million years ago—had gradually developed into wings as the
animals leaped onto their prey from high branches. Archaeopteryx
was the first species to branch off from its alleged dinosaur ances-
tors and begin to fly. This scenario can be found in just about every