Page 80 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

Crocodile and
theropod dinosaur
pubis bones

Lung Liver Diaphragm
muscles Pubis
The presence in theropod dinosaurs of a structure known as the hepatic piston diaphragm removes
any possibility of their breathing the way birds do. Research has shown that theropods and crocodiles
have a very different pelvic structure that helps air enter their bellows-like lungs. The absence of avian
lungs in dinosaurs once again reveals the invalidity of the claims that birds evolved from them.

ade. It tells us more about dinosaurs than any other specimen. . . The
positions of the dinosaur’s windpipe and colon serve as independent
checks that the animal did not have a bird’s breathing apparatus. 9
Coming out to oppose the view that birds are descended from dinosaurs,
Larry Martin summarizes the issue:
Support for the hot-blooded dinosaur hypothesis now has the rigidity of a
marshmallow. 10
According to Peter Dodson, a paleontologist from Pennsylvania University
in Philadelphia, Ruben’s analysis is;
Another nail in the coffin of the warm-blooded dinosaur theory. 11

1. Ann Gibbons, “Lung Fossils Suggest Dinos http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/na-
Breathed in Cold Blood,” Science, Vol. 278, No. ture/259902.stm
5341, 14 November 1997, pp. 1229-1230. 8. John A. Ruben, Cristiano Dal Sasso, Nicholas R.
2. Ibid. Geist, Willem J. Hillenius, Terry D. Jones, Marco
3. Malcolm W. Browne, “Turning Dinosaur Theory Signore, “Pulmonary Function and Metabolic
on its Paleobiological Tail,” The New York Times, Physiology of Theropod Dinosaurs,” Science, 22
26 January 1999, Science Desk. January 1999, pp. 514-516.
4. Ann Gibbons, op. cit. 9. Malcolm W. Browne, The New York
5. Ibid. Times, 26 January 1999.
6. Ibid. 10. Ann Gibbons, op. cit.,
7. “Turbocharged dino- pp. 1229-1230.
saur,” BBC News, 11. Ibid.
21 January 1999;