Page 99 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) 97

very different biochemical structures. No structures resem-
bling bird feathers are to be found in other creatures.
According to the Connecticut University professor of phys-
iology and neurobiology Alan H. Brush, “the protein struc-
ture of bird feathers is unique among vertebrates.” 81

The Claim That Feathers First Developed for
Insulation Is Groundless
Some evolutionists maintain that dinosaurs developed
feathers for insulation and later arranged them for the pur-
pose of flight. Other claims include that dinosaurs devel-
oped feathers to repel water, to collect excess sulphur waste,
to be used as a thermal shield, or to achieve higher running
speeds. Yet none of these hypotheses has any validity in
explaining birds’ aerodynamic structures.
Richard O. Prum of Kansas University writes a com-
prehensive criticism of these theories:
Current functional theories are insufficient to explain the
origin and diversification of feathers and are a hindrance
to evaluating. 82
In suggesting that feathers developed for reasons other
than flight, they cannot explain how scales on the skin
developed into a wholly different structure such as feathers.
As you have seen, no fossils have ever been found to show
scales developing into feathers, nor forearms into wings. 83
Alan Feduccia, the best known critic of the theory that
birds are descended from dinosaurs, says that he has seen
no evidence that dinosaurs had feathers, and very much
doubts that he’ll ever see any in the future. Feather, he
states, “are the most complex appendages ever produced by
the vertebrate integument” and that it is impossible for
them to form on a non-flying living thing. 84