54 logeny of birds. It shows progression the from avian ancestor birds. to modern Geographic  e gure (from Feduccia 2012, modi fromed a diagram adapted from National Justin fact. what scheme? is inerror devised newly inthe from reality the of avian evolution, phylogeny atopsy-turvy that has no reality have long endured o the en rancorous debate, however, scheme this is far a eld to dub phenomenon the ‘Disney the cation of dinosaurs’. To many of us who began to emerge. Junk prevailed, science propelling fanatical the creationists saurs sporting proto-feathers, to dinosaurs with bird wings for traps insect — Before long, fantastical proposals — ranging from diverse hot-blooded dino- consensus was achieved, and disbelievers of all orthodoxy the were banished. simply working to con whatrm was already thought known. to be a Quickly  e eld abandoned normal the scienti c falsi cation approach in favour of discoveries were not properly vetted and lacked normal scienti c stringency. lished mantra this as keystone the of paleontology. discovery modern Yet, these on wing. the  discoveries ese codi birdsed as living dinosaurs, and estab- Protarchaeopteryx announced ‘the debate is over’.  ecover featured story two putative dinosaurs,  e next shock came just two years later editor the when of Nature fromgliding, trees the down. more route logical by taken other airborne all vertebrates —parachuting and dwelling archosaurs (antecedents of dinosaurs) that developed ight by the forview most of century was that 20th the birds originated from tree- small hypothesis implied that ight must have originated from ground the up.  e Deinonychus latethe Yale’s 1960swhen John Ostrom discovered birdlike the dromaeosaur was apparent the culmination of apaleontological revolution that in started how that supported birds theory the were dinosaur derivatives.  ediscovery proclaimed that the structures were some of sort proto-feathers and some- along its back. With only black asmall and white photo, New the York Times Cretaceousnese dinosaur Paleontology was forever changed with 1996unveiling the of Chi- small the Alan Feduccia Feathers +wings=bird ) shows apopular version of what has become most the accepted phy- , reviving hypothesis the that birds evolved from dinosaurs.  e and Caudipteryx and Sinosauropteryx , with true avian, with true pennaceous ight feathers , sporting a mane of thick laments triumphantly triumphantly Ackerman, J.Ackerman, wing: ‘Dinosaurs take The Origin ofBirds’. NationalGeographic, July1998:74–99 Feduccia, oftheFeathered A(2012).Riddle Dragons Haven:. New Yale Press. University References cestry), followed bycestry), two the Nature by Late the Cretaceous birdlike Velociraptor From le to ‘feathered right issmall the dinosaur’ Sinosauropteryx axiom holds: still ifit has feathers and avian wings, it’s abird! Such scheme  isnon-Darwinian. practically a topsy-turvy and true e tried ticated avian ight architecture inanon-ight context, exaptations. so-called is instark contrast to birdlike dinosaurs sprouting feathers sophis- and their all originating context inthe of jumping, parachuting, and  gliding. is scenario trees-down facile ally model, intree-dwelling archosaurs, basal with feathers century. 20th the Namely that ight originated by intuitively the and biophysic- may revolutionaryview seem but it hearkens back to predominant the of view ers are early indeed birds, some having  acquired secondary ightlessness.  is My view, now shared by many, is feath- that fossils modern Chinese bearing the Mesozoic; and crow. modern nally the reversed shoulder articulation —representing dominant the land birds of the lowed by an opposite bird (enantiornithine) —named ‘opposite’ of because its of birds, ancestry the and in many a bird aspects It sense. modern in the is fol- arethey Mesozoic inasense kiwis.  enthere is Archaeopteryx were no longer capable of ight —with myriad birdlike features remaining; reality secondarily ightless birds evolved —they from ying ancestors but existence.  ecaudipterids, with reduced but avian true  ight feathers, are in amongwell be assemblage the of avian derivatives that reverted to a terrestrial  eLate Cretaceous Velociraptor shown nothing to be more than collagen bres supporting alizard-like frill. limbs, has nothing to dowith avian and ‘proto-feathers’ the ancestry have been reconsiderLet's Sinosauropteryx evidence. the crow. Regrettably, avian this family tree is in total error, a chaotic arrangement! Archaeopteryx aviantrue wing feathers), and only then followed by Jurassic the iconic urvogel , an early Cretaceous bird Eoalulavis of Jurassic Park of caudipterids (Caudipteryx (thought to close to avian be an- , with its greatly reduced fore- fame is very birdlike, fame is very and may , and modernnally the , truly close to close , truly , second, with , followed 55

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