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Dinosaur Forces Rethink Of Flight's Evolution

Posted by Zonk on from the always-fun-to-think-about-it dept.

gollum123 writes "The BBC reports that a small dinosaur with a long, slender snout and wing-like limbs is forcing a rethink on bird evolution." From the article: "The 90 million-year-old reptile, called Buitreraptor gonzalezorum, belongs to the same sickle-clawed group of dinosaurs as Velociraptor and feathered dinosaurs from China. It may provide tantalising evidence that powered flight evolved twice. One theory suggests the lineage of dinosaurs the new animal belonged to, the dromaeosaurs, originated in the Cretaceous Period (144 to 65 million years ago). But this discovery suggests their lineage can be traced further back in time, to the Jurassic (206 to 144 million years ago), experts say."

6 of 328 comments (clear)

  1. JOIN THE 'HARASS SLASHDOT' CAMPAIGN! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll


    You too can be a part of the HARASS SLASHDOT campaign! Simply take any of the "editor" email addresses (for example, moderation@slashdot.org), and any website you visit that has a "submit email address for newsletter" sign an editor up! IT'S THAT SIMPLE!

  2. Christians suck wigga weenies. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    If you read the bible as porn literature, the versus that contradict each other in the teachings of the pastors,etc. are brought to light, as when read as porn lit, they don't contradict.
    One example is laying with beasts:
    "If a man lays with a beast, he shall surely die!!"
    Taken in a sexual context, this must be as ecstasy, or heavenly.Sayings such as, "He has a bod to die for!!" is one modern example.
    Re-read the bible folks, take special note of the psalms and of the story of abraham.Also, the story of Onan is rather interesting.Why do christians leave those bits out of their beliefs?
    Maybe it's because they aren't christians, but are really agents of the devil, since they seem pre-occupied with material things on earth and not for the well being of others but themselves.Very very selfish.

  3. I Call Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It goes back 5,000 years, tops.

    Regards,

    G. Bush

  4. Either that or.... by countach · · Score: -1, Troll

    >It may provide tantalising evidence that powered flight evolved twice.

    Either that, or evidence that the theory of evolution is falling apart at the seams.

    1. Re:Either that or.... by whereiswaldo · · Score: 1, Troll

      Proponents of evolution sometimes forget that it is a theory and that other explanations are possible. They also dismiss the fact that evolution may only be a part of the big picture. Why could a great designer not design evolution itself?

      I don't claim that it is impossible that evolution is the actual explanation for how life came to be. However, scientists do not have all the answers yet. A widely debated example is how the eyeball evolved. Some try to explain that given a million years this is possible. Then you have the eye socket and brain plumbing that go along with sight.

      One argument against evolution that I have is you don't see all these half developed fossils being dug up. For example, you'd expect to see animals with 1 arm, 2 arms, 3 arms, 10 arms, no arms, half an arm, round arms, and so on for every part of the body while evolution is fine tuning this stuff. As far as I know, this isn't the case.

      I haven't seen this mentioned before but here is my theory for interest's sake: the living creatures of this earth may have been "put here" by some higher being or via the design of some higher being. Creatures are given the ability to adapt to their environment which makes perfect sense. If the creatures are expected to live on their own and make Earth their home for thousands or millions of years and the planet changes as it gets older, the ability to adapt makes good sense. In what ways can they adapt? Lots of ways, as programmed in our DNA. Parts of us which are no longer useful become dormant but in the future - let's say we all blow ourselves up and are back to the stone age - those things could come back. For example, hair all over our body. The possibilities are all preprogrammed and not just accidental.

      One thing I can say with certainty is to keep an open mind. Evolutionary fanatics clinging to this one theory need to realize how history repeats itself. Our beliefs can and have been turned on their head surprisingly in the past. The world is round.

  5. Re:This just in by gazoombo · · Score: 0, Troll

    Zonk forces rethink of English language.

    --
    John Hancock