Re: Dinogeorge Digest #10

["Matthew Troutman" <m_troutman@hotmail.com>]

<<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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