Page 220 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

218 The Origin of Birds and Flight

Confuciusornis sanctus: Identical to

Modern Birds
Two paleontologists, Lianhai Hou and
Zhonghe Zhou, researching at the
Vertebrate Paleontology Institute in China
in 1995, discovered a new species of fossil-
ized bird, which they named Confuciusornis
sanctus. This was presented to the public as the earli-
est flying dinosaur, even as evidence for how hands used for grasping
turned into hands used for flight. According to Alan Feduccia, however,
this fossil is one of the frequently encountered beaked birds. This one had
no teeth, and its beak and feathers share the same features as present-day
birds. There are claws on its wings, as with Archaeopteryx, and its skeletal
structure is identical to those of modern-day birds. A structure known as
the pygostyle, which supports the tail feathers, can also be seen.
In short, evolutionists regarded this fossil as a semi-reptile, the earli-
est ancestor of all birds, of a similar age (about 142 million years) as
Archaeopteryx and, bearing a close resemblance to present-day birds. This
clearly conflicts with the evolutionist theses that Archaeopteryx is the earli-
est ancestor of all birds. 186
This is also definitive proof that Archaeopteryx and other archaic birds
are not intermediate forms. These and similar fossils show no evidence that
different bird species evolved from earlier ones. On the contrary, it proves
that present-day birds and certain unique bird species similar to
Archaeopteryx lived at the same time. Some of these species, such as
Confuciusornis and Archaeopteryx, are extinct, but a few have survived to the
present day.