Page 208 - Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism

put an end to the on-going ar-
guments as to the origin of
birds. They claimed that

their findings had led them
to a supposedly amazing
conclusion: Feathers
had evolved in di-
Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism
nosaurs, before
birds came into
The "di no-bird" tale in the me dia has no sci en ti fic ba sis. existence.

Sci en ti fic Ame ri can, March 2003 Feathers, they

proposed, had
evolved not for the purpose of flying,
but for insulation, impermeability to water, to attract the
opposite gender, camouflage, and defense. Only later were
they used for flight.
However, this thesis in fact consisted of speculation devoid
of any scientific evidence. The new thesis, developed by Prum
and Brush and adopted by Scientific American, was nothing more
than a new, but hollow, version of the "birds are dinosaurs" the-
ory, furiously defended with a blind fanaticism in recent
decades. In fact, like the other icons of evolution, this was also
completely rotten.
One person whose views may be consulted on this mat-
ter is one of the recognized authorities in the world on the ori-
gin of birds: Dr. Alan Feduccia of the Biology Department of
the University of North Carolina. He accepts the theory that

birds came into existence through evolution, but he differs

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