Dinosaur Forces Rethink Of Flight's Evolution

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."

Comments

That begs the question ....

[slashbob22]

"small dinosaur with a long, slender snout and wing-like limbs"

... who said pigs couldn't fly?

Re:That begs the question ....

[Acts of Attrition]

Better question: What the heck is a dinosaur?
I can't find a mention of them anywhere in my Bible. You folks and your alternative science!

Re:That begs the question ....

[drafalski]

Actually, it raises the question. Begging the question is a formal logic term that does not mean what most people seem to think.

Text from the link:

An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to "beg the question." Here is an example of a question-begging argument: "This painting is trash because it is obviously worthless." The speaker is simply asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use "begs" with this odd meaning ("to improperly take for granted") in any other phrase, many people mistakenly suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked--raises the question. If you're not comfortable with formal terms of logic, it's best to stay away from this phrase, or risk embarrassing yourself.

Flight Evolved Twice?

[BarryHaworth]

From the posting:

It may provide tantalising evidence that powered flight evolved twice.

As I recall, powered flight has evolved independantly a number of times.

Insects

Birds

Pterosaurs

Bats

and if I not mistaken, fruit bats evolved flight separately to insect-eating "true" bats. That's at least four if not five times.

Re:Insect

[the-build-chicken]

didn't evolve on this planet

Re:Insect

[rolfwind]

I don't know if Hummingbird can be categorized as a different model of flight but:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Jun0 5/hummingbird.htm

They can hover, fly backwards/forwards, or even upsidedown.

Nah

[ColaMan]

It's just God messing with our heads.

Didn't you read that bit in the bible? In Genesis? In that footnote 4 or 5 pages in?

"And the Lord brought forth the remains of many, many varied animals and plants, different to what existed on the newly-fashioned earth. And lo, He crafted a fossil record that suggested they did indeed exist far in the past, and planted it so that men of Science, with their need to understand with Hard Facts and Reason and Logic, would have something to explain the Creation with. For the Lord looks after all His children, even those of little Faith."

It's all in there people. You just have to read and interpret it a little bit.
And change a few words here and there. And possibly fragment and rearrage sections. But it's all in there.

Re:Disappointing

[Anonymous Coward]

No, fool, he was trying to save time and effort by typing "/me" instead of "I".

Not Flight, Intelligent Falling

[Bob9113]

Evolution is nothing but a theory, just as is gravity. Theory means "not true". The real basis for flight is God's divine will expressed through specific cases where He suspends Intelligent Falling. Flight is one of the most clear examples that proves Intelligent Falling, and that the "theory" of gravity is just bunk foisted on us by a bunch of scientists who want to destroy God.