Page 88 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

86 The Origin of Birds and Flight

hooks bind them together, rather like the teeth of a zipper. If these are
broken apart for any reason, the bird can simply shake itself or preen
itself with its beak for them to resume their previous continuous plane.
The ornithologist Alan Feduccia describes this special structure:
They are lightweight, strong, aerodynamically shaped, and have an
intricate structure of barbs and hooks. This structure makes them
waterproof, and a quick preen with the beak with the bill will cause
flattened feathers to snap into fully aerodynamic shape again. 58
The belief that feathers’ complex structure evolved from reptiles’
scales by means of random mutations is nothing more than dogma.