Page 174 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

172 The Origin of Birds and Flight

WHY ARCHAEOPTERYX IS NOT AN INTERMEDIATE FORM
Ever since the 19th century, evolutionists have been speculating
about Archaeopteryx. The teeth in its mouth, the claw-like talons in its
wings and long tail led to the fossil being compared to reptiles. Many
evolutionists have described it as a “primitive bird” and have even
claimed it is closer to reptiles than to birds. Yet in fact, this animal was
definitely not an intermediate form. On the contrary, its skeleton and
feathers were ideally suited to flight. Those features compared to those
of reptiles have also been found in birds that lived in the past, and even
in other birds still living today.
Alan Feduccia, subscribes to this view and opposes the idea that
Archaeopteryx is the primitive ancestor of birds: 121 “Most recent workers
who have studied various anatomical features of Archaeopteryx have
found the creature to be much more birdlike than previously imag-
ined. The resemblance of Archaeopteryx to theropod dinosaurs has
been grossly overestimated.” 122
Archaeopteryx possesses a number of features that differ from those
in modern birds, yet its characteristics show it to have been a true bird.
The fact that Archaeopteryx possesses a number of unique features does
not show it to be an intermediate form. The proofs that Archaeopteryx is
merely an extinct species of bird—and not a half-dinosaur, half-bird—
can be briefly summarized:

Archaeopteryx’s wishbone and the subsequently discovered

breast bone:
Dinosaurs possess no clavicula, or wishbone, though Archaeopteryx,
like all other birds, possesses a clavicula. The anatomist David Menton
refers to its wishbone in these terms:

Archaeopteryx has a robust wishbone [furcula]. Some recent fascinating
studies using moving X-rays of birds as they fly show how the shoul-
der 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. 123