Feathered dinosaurs

Fossil of Sinornithosaurus millenii, the first evidence of feathers in dromaeosaurids.
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Feathered dinosaurs deliver yet another crushing blow against the arguments put forward by creationists; they clearly show evolutionary transitions from non-avian dinosaurs (specifically theropods, which include all known carnivorous dinosaurs) to avian dinosaurs (birds).

Denialism

A feathered dinosaur outside the window

Creationists blatantly deny the existence of feathered dinosaurs[1] - problem solved. And yet... there are several feathered dinosaurs on Wikipedia[2] and right outside your window. Creationists will claim that many are not transitional forms because they come after Archaeopteryx, iconically the "first bird". This is a misunderstanding of what a transitional form is: it is not necessarily a direct ancestor or descendant of two distinct species, but a creature that has traits of two different species, illustrating an evolutionary link. Even Archaeopteryx is now considered not ancestral to modern birds (a "dethroning" of which creationists made much hay), with other theropod groups considered closer to the transition.

Despite this, popular culture is still having trouble accepting the post-1990s ideas of feathered dinosaurs. While the Discovery Channel and the BBC have made films with downy dinosaurs, the 900lb gorilla of dinosaur films, Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequels, didn't give their dinosaurs feathers until the third film (2001), and then only four on the back of the head. They are accurate as dragons and should thus be classified as such.

Distribution of feathers among groups of dinosaurs

To some degree, popular understandings result from the simple order of fossil discovery.[note 1] If the first Velociraptor had been found with feathers, the press could have labeled them clawed flightless birds, and in a sense it wouldn't be that far off (since the point of demarcation is arbitrary). Conversely, if Archeopteryx hadn't been discovered until the present, it would likely be considered a new type of "feathered dinosaur". Of course, per a cladistic understanding of things, Archeopteryx is definitely a feathered dinosaur, and other feathered dinosaurs (the birds) are alive and widespread today.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Plus good ol' unfeathered raptors are way cooler than those chocobo-like… things and featherless chickens will be equally as cool as them for far-future generations.

References

  1. ↑ CreationWiki: Feathered dinosaur. One example they use: since dinosaurs are reptiles and reptiles have scales, birds have, unfortunately, feathers, and scales and feathers are different; therefore, feathered dinosaurs make no sense. Mind-blowing. Even though birds do have scales, even if they are only degenerate feathers, but nuance isn't something creationists are adept at. And even if scales don't look entirely feather-like (seeing is believing), caterpillars don't look much like butterflies. Ah, the Wonders of Nature!
  2. ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Feathered dinosaurs.
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