Page 250 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

248 The Origin of Birds and Flight

Pterosaurs, the extinct flying reptiles, had the largest neural system for
processing balance information ever seen in a vertebrate. It probably
allowed them to perform complex aerobatic maneuvers while keeping
their gaze firmly centered on their prey.
The flocculus integrates signals from the balance organs, joints, mus-
cles and skin. It sends on neural signals that produce small, automatic
movements in the eye muscles to keep the image on an animal's retina
steady. Without it, our visual experience would be like a shaky video
camera, says Witmer. 222
The smooth imaging system in question possessed by these fly-
ing reptiles resembles that used in camera images taken
from modern-day helicopters based on a very deli-
cate gyro-stabilized camera. Millions of years
ago, these living things possessed a
similarly advanced
system to that in
modern helicopters. Of
course, it runs against all com-
mon sense to imagine that these fly-
ing reptiles acquired their exper-
tise through blind evolutionary
mechanisms. This evidence of creation in their sensory systems is by it-
self a major dilemma for the theory of evolution.
Paleontological discoveries also demonstrate that these flying rep-
tiles were created, since they emerge suddenly and fully formed, with no
transitional forms between them and earlier terrestrial creatures. An ar-
ticle published in Science magazine in 1999 admits this situation, which
poses a severe difficulty for the theory of evolution:
For use in understanding the evolution of vertebrate flight, the early
record of pterosaurs and bats is disappointing: Their most primitive
representatives are fully transformed as capable fliers. 223
As the above extract states, flying reptiles’ wings have a unique