Page 207 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) 205

The problem regarding fossils in China is even more serious, with
smuggling out of the country continuing despite official security meas-
ures. 167 Secretly unearthed specimens pass through many hands and are
subsequently restored with adhesives made of earth and stone, in order
to replace the missing parts, by people of limited means in America, Italy
and Germany. Kraig Derstler of New Orleans University in Louisiana
says, “You can't spot it without a microscope, or ultraviolet or X-rays.”
168
The approximately 142-million-year-old Confuciusornis fossil was
first seen by a seller, rather than by a member of a museum or universi-
ty—which indicates the value of fossils kept in private collections. As
public interest in paleontology has arisen, so has a fossil market turned
into an industry worth millions of dollars. Smugglers buy or steal fossils
from China, Russia, Australia and other places, and then sell them to
wealthy collectors in the West. Well-protected or rare fossil specimens
have been targeted for theft in the same way as famous paintingres. In
recent years, thousands of dinosaur eggs and more than 100 “bird”
fossils have been sold on the international market.
For these reasons, the ever-growing trade in fossils represents a
serious problem for scientists. Information about the strata where fossils
are discovered is constantly being lost because of smuggling. Scientists
are also unable to examine research on specimens in private hands,
which represents a separate problem. 169
The dino-bird furore has been going on ever since the 1990s and
rests on just such a deceptive foundation. Since there is no evidence to
support the thesis that birds evolved from dinosaurs, the manufacture
and selling of false evidence has become a profitable business, portray-
ing products of commercial fraud as scientific evidence.
The eminent ornithologist Alan Feduccia has the last word:
“All in all, I find the whole dino-bird business a total hoax.” 170