Page 96 - The Transitional Form Dilemma

THE TRANSITIONAL-FORM DILEMMA

changes. The theory of evolution is unable to explain how these
changes might have come about, nor is it able to offer any evidence
from the fossil record that such changes took place at all. Therefore, the
“birds are feathered dinosaurs” theory is rejected by a number of biolo-
gists and paleontologists who nevertheless support the theory of evo-
lution. For example, Alan Feduccia of the University of North Carolina
and Larry Dean Martin of the University of Kansas, two of the world’s
most prominent ornithologists, don’t believe that birds can have
evolved from any known dinosaur group. Feduccia in particular, de-
spite believing in evolution, emphasizes the differences between di-
nosaurs and birds and produces evidence to show that these are very
considerable—for which reason birds could not possibly have evolved
from earlier dinosaurs.
To demonstrate why it is that the theory of evolution is a terrible
predicament when it comes to the origin of birds, recall some of the dif-
ferences between birds and reptiles:
1) A bird’s lung possesses an entirely different structure from all
other land-dwelling vertebrates, reptiles included. In the bird lungs,
unlike in land vertebrates, air travels in just one direction, allowing
birds to constantly take in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. It is im-
possible for this structure, unique to birds, to have evolved from the
land-vertebrate lung, because any transitional reptile-bird would be
unable to breathe at all. 55
2) In 1992, a comparative study by Alan Feduccia and Julie
Nowicki of bird and reptile embryos demonstrated enormous differ-

A DRAWING OF A DINOSAUR

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