[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]

Re: Eotyrannus and T.rex



I've already pointed out its unique characteristics (pleurocoels
in sacral vertebrate, pneumatic formina in the nasal, etc.)

That's the correct answer. If *E.* were a direct ancestor of anything known, each of these features would have to have disappeared -- that's one extra step for each. Not parsimonious. By definition, paleontology is a science, so "the majority of paleontologists" uses Ockham's Razor.


You can also use probabilistic arguments. Imagine the diversity of life today, and imagine the amount of time involved (...good luck). How likely is it that any two of the exceedingly rare fossils would happen to be an ancestor-descendant pair?