Perspectives
8. Bailey et al., ref. 7, p. 200. Big birdosaur that their feathers were used for 9. Donoghue, P.C.J., Embryonic identity crisis, protecting eggs during brooding.3,7 Nature 445:155–156, 2007. blues: new fossil However, their reasons for believing 10. Unger, K., Fossil embryos hint at early start that Gigantoraptor had feathers are for complex development, Science 312:1587, creates problems nothing more than speculation because 2006. for dino-to-bird no feathers were found with the fossil. 11. Hagadorn, J.W., Xiao, S., Donoghue, P.C.J., Note, no feathers were found! Bengtson, S., Gostling, N.J., Pawlowska, M., evolution They assume Gigantoraptor Raff, E.C., Raff, R.A., Turner, F.R., Chongyu, had feathers because its apparent Y., Zhou, C., Yuan, X., McFeely, M.B., Shaun Doyle closest relatives, Caudipteryx and Stampanoni, M. and Nealson, K.H., Cellular and subcellular structures of Neoproterozoic Protarchaeopteryx, appear to have 5 animal embryos, Science 314:291–294, 2006, he media has recently been buzzing feathers. However, the status of these p. 291. Twith the latest claims of a dino-to- two fossils as dinosaurs is disputed. 12. Lin, J.-P., Scott, A.C., Li, C.-W., Wu, H.-J., bird missing link, a 1,400-kg so-called Some believe them to be flightless Ausich, W.I., Zhao, Y.-L. and Hwu, Y.-K., ‘bird-like dinosaur’ from China dubbed birds based on the feathers and other Silicified egg clusters from a Middle Cambrian Gigantoraptor erlianensis (meaning anatomical evidence.9–11 However, Burgess Shale-type deposit, Guizhou, south ‘giant thief from Erlian’[a city in Inner Gigantoraptor appears to have more China, Geology 34:1037–1040, 2006. Mongolia in China]).1,2 However, birdlike features than even Caudipteryx 13. Anonymous, Unscrambled eggs, Nature perusing the report in Nature3 reveals and Protarchaeopteryx: 444:792, 2006. that Gigantoraptor seems to confuse ‘Gigantoraptor has oroportionally 14. Raff et al., ref. 5, p. 5846. evolutionists more than confirm dino- the longest forelimb among 15. Donoghue et al., ref. 1, p.232. to-bird evolution. oviraptorosaurs, a manus resembling First, the sheer size of Gigantoraptor basal eumaniraptorans, birdlike hind 16. Donoghue, ref. 9, p. 155. presents a problem for the orthodox limbs, and many other advanced dino-to-bird story, which the researchers features.’6 themselves admit:3 This means it may in fact be a ‘Interestingly, the comparatively bird, in which case one would expect less “bird-like” species of most it to have feathers without having coelurosaurian sub-groups, such as to postulate feathered dinosaurs. of Alvarezsauroidea, Troodontidae Therefore, to assume that they are and Dromaeosauridae, are in feathered dinosaurs in order to prove general larger in size than the they had feathers is not only begging the more “bird-like” species of each question, it also ignores other possible clade, unlike the situation in the paths to the same conclusion. Oviraptorosauria where the gigantic However, no amount of speculative Gigantoraptor independently reasoning will prove that Gigantoraptor evolved many “bird-like” features had feathers. Even though Gigantoraptor absent in its smaller relatives.’4 is said to be a close relative of Caudipteryx In most dinosaur lineages and Protarchaeopteryx, it would still alleged to be closely related to birds, have been about 300 times their size, the smaller dinosaurs tend to have and it possesses many other unique more birdlike features.5 However, features that set it apart from them Gigantoraptor reverses this trend. It both.3 Therefore, unless we actually exhibits more birdlike characteristics find aGigantoraptor fossil with feathers than either Caudipteryx zoui or attached we cannot know if it had Protarchaeopteryx robusta, two of feathers and all claims that it did are mere its supposed closest relatives, yet speculation. it is 300 times larger than either of Moreover, Gigantoraptor doesn’t them (figure 1).6 This is explained by fit the evolutionary timeline for dino- invoking homoplasy,7 which is a poor to-bird evolution. Gigantoraptor contingency plan to common descent was found in strata ‘dated’ as Upper used by evolutionists to when common Cretaceous (85–65 Ma ago),3 but descent fails.8 Archaeopteryx, which is a recognizable Gigantoraptor has been portrayed bird, is dated at about 150 Ma; and as a dinosaur with feathers, both by Confuciusornis, a beaked bird, the researchers3 and the media.1,2 supposedly existed 135Ma ago. Xu et al. even go so far as to say Therefore, Gigantoraptor can’t be
JOURNAL OF CREATION 21(3) 2007 Perspectives
Naracoorte Caves: an archive in the dark
Emil Silvestru
Location and setting aracoorte Caves in Victoria, NAustralia, represent the only fossil site inside caves that is registered on the World Heritage list. Several of the 26 caves in the area contain fossils, Victoria Fossil Cave (VFC) being the uncontested star. Within it there are 5 chambers with significant fossil Image by Li Rongshaw/IVPP deposits: The Main Fossil Chamber, Figure 1. Estimated size of Gigantoraptor in comparison with a man. The bones Grant Hall, Butch and Lake Chamber, actually found by Xu et al.3 are shown in white. Spring Chamber and The Ossuaries (Upper and Lower). There is also classed as an intermediate between 3. Xu, X., Tan, Q., Wang, J., Zhao, X. and Tan, another bone deposit in the newly dinosaurs and birds because the dates L., A gigantic bird-like dinosaur from the Late discovered NW section of the caves. Cretaceous of China, Nature 447:844–847, 14 are all wrong. This is a common June 2007. VFC is the largest in the World Heritage problem in dino-to-bird theory; the Area (WHA), with approximately 4 km 4. Xu et al., ref. 3, Supplementary information, 1 dinosaurs that have the most birdlike p. 3. of surveyed passages and chambers. features are younger than the first 5. Woodmorappe, J., Bird evolution: Geological and paleontological true birds in the evolutionists’ own discontinuities and reversals, J. Creation data scheme.5 17(1):88–94, 2003;
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