Page 178 - Atlas of Creation Volume 2

MESSEL BIRD

Messelornis cristata

Age: 50 million years
Period: Eocene

Location: Messel Shales, Germany

The bird fossil was named for having been discovered in the famous Messel shales. None of the
bodily mechanisms of birds, which have a completely different structure from terrestrial life
forms, can be explained in terms of any gradual evolutionary model. First of all, wings—the
most important feature that makes birds what they are—represent a complete impasse for the

theory of evolution. Evolutionists themselves state the impossibility of a reptile being able to fly
and indeed, that this claim is contradicted by the fossil record. The ornithologist Alan Feduccia,
for example, asks, "How do you derive birds from a heavy, earthbound, bipedal reptile that has
a deep body, a heavy balancing tail, and fore-shortened forelimbs? Biophysically, it's impossi-
ble." ("Jurassic Bird Challenges Origin Theories," Geotimes, January 1996, p. 7.)

176 Atlas of Creation Vol. 2