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Earliest Bird Had Feet Like Dinosaur
aychamo writes "A 150-million-year-old fossil of Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird, may put to rest any scientific doubt that theropods gave rise to modern birds. From the article: '[A new fossil] presents important new details of the skull morphology [shape and function] of the earliest known bird, showing also that the skull of Archaeopteryx is much more similar to that of nonavian theropod dinosaurs than previously thought.' In the new fossil, the foot looks more like that of the four-toed foot of Velociraptor and its other nonwinged theropod relatives. The specimen also clearly lacks a reversed toe. Because Archaeopteryx lacked this stabilizing toe, it almost certainly did not habitually perch in trees. This leads scientists to believe that it was a land based predator."
Well, as it says flat-out in big, bold type at the Museum of Natural History in NYC,
BIRDS ARE DINOSAURS.
They make no bones about it. It actually gave me chills when I first saw that. They also had a logical and easy to understand rationale for why it's not accurate to say "birds descended from dinosaurs" either; that birds are dinosaurs. (Unfortunately I don't recall what it was right now, but I remember they used an analogy that was similar to "just as man is not 'descended from' mammals, birds have not 'descended from' dinosaurs. Humans are mammals that have evolved over millions of years, just as birds are highly evolved dinosaurs.")
From what I've read, this is becoming a popular - if not the prevailing - belief among scientists at the moment.
...we have lots of obvious design flaws. The useless appendix, birth canals that struggle to accomodate our ridiculously oversized crania, eyes that can only see three colors with no ultraviolet or infrared or ability to detect polarization of light like some other creatures, we're crappy runners and swimmers. We'd be great walkers, except that we have oddly angled knees that makes them destined to deteriorate. Despite all these obstacles to other means of travel, we get no flight. Perhaps most importantly, no friggin' laser beams.
What's the probability of a perfect God making such a ungainly creature in his image? Absolutely zero, Pangloss.
Maybe it's time we founded the Unintelligent Design movement.
Once again, the Index to Creationist Claims is the greatest resource on the internet for this discussion.
There are wild chickens on the Hawaiian island of Kauai...
I am scientifically inaccurate.
Actually, the modern chicken, while far from "perfect", is supremely adapted to its environment, perhaps moreso than most other animals.
Now, before you write me off as a raving lunatic, hear me out. In order for a species to be "well suited for its environment", it needs to be able to live long enough to breed and thus pass on its genes. That's it, that's all. It doesn't need to be able to live well, live long, prosper, or do any of that. It only needs to avoid going extinct. That's it, that's all.
What characteristics make it so adapted, then? Simple: chickens are tasty, stupid, easily domesticated, easily bred in captivity, and tough enough to survive horrific farm conditions. That's right, the modern domestic chicken is adapted specifically to the farm environment... and there, it thrives.