Page 228 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

226 The Origin of Birds and Flight

EOALULAVIS HOYASI SHARES WITH WING

STRUCTURE OF MODERN-DAY BIRDS
Another fossil to demolish evolutionist claims
was Eoalulavis hoyasi. This, estimated at some 120
million years old, is older than all the known theropod
specimens. Nonetheless, wing structure in Eoalulavis
hoyasi is identical to some modern-day flying birds. This
proves that vertebrates identical in many respects to modern birds
were flying 120 million years ago. 198 Any suggestion that theropods, which
appeared after this creature, were the ancestors of birds is clearly irrational.
This bird’s wing has a bunch of small feathers attached to the
“finger.” Recognizable as the alula, this structure is a basic feature of
many birds alive today and consisting of several feathers that permits the
bird to engage in various maneuvers during flight. But it had never before
been encountered in a fossil bird from the Mesozoic. This new bird was
given the name Eoalulavis hoyasi, or “ancient bird with an alula.” 199 Its
presence shows that this bird, the size of a chaffinch, was able to fly and
maneuver as well as modern-day birds.
The alula functions like the wing flap on an airplane. When the bird
wants to reduce its speed or landing, it increases of its wing to the hori-
zon. The drag produced by this wing position helps the bird to slow
down. But when the angle between the direction of the air flow and the
wing surface gets too steep, turbulence over the wing increases until the
bird loses the lift necessary to maintain flight. Like an airplane under simi-
lar circumstances, the bird is in danger of stalling in midair. The alula now
enters the equation. By raising this small appendage, the bird creates a slot
between it and the main part of the wing, similar to what happens when
a pilot deploys a craft’s wing flaps. The slot allows air to stream over the
main wing's upper surface, easing turbulence and allowing the bird (or
plane) to brake without stalling. 200
Birds 120 million years ago were using the same technology as that
employed present. This realization added yet another insuperable diffi-
culty facing the theory of evolution.