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Re: Dinogeorge Digest #10
<<Just as an aside, there is also little to no fossil evidence that the
Triassic and pre-archaeopterygid Jurassic ancestors of birds were >not<
more birdlike than the "standard model" says! >None< of the known
Triassic or Jurassic theropods besides _Archaeopteryx_ shows the
>slightest< degree of any flying ability whatsoever. The standard model
prefers to >speculate< about pre-archaeopterygids by analyzing
Cretaceous theropods that occur well after _Archaeopteryx_ in the fossil
record and which could therefore be modified to an entirely
indeterminate degree from the their pre-archaeopterygid common ancestral
form. BCF, on the other hand, speculates from commonsense and quite
easily understood arguments of physics and evolutionary theory.>>
I must direct you to Chatterjee 1997 for a discussion of the transition
to flight as documented by the fossil record. While it is true that we
have only found fairly complete fossils of the ancestors of
Archaeopteryx 20 million years after the fact, it must be pointed out
that there are several taxon that have a long temporal reign without big
change; vultures, hawks, shorebirds, ducks, and various other birds (as
will be found out), plus opposums and crocs among others.
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