On October 15, 1999, the National Geographic Society announced the discovery of the new fossil Archaeoraptor liaoningensis(ancient bird of prey from Liaoning). The announcement coincided with the Nov. ‘99 National Geographic magazine and its article “Feathers for T. rex? New birdlike fossils are missing links in dinosaur evolution.”. The turkey-sized animal according to National Geographic “… is a true missing link in the complex chain that connects dinosaurs to birds.”
The archaeoraptor fossil was studied under ultra-violet light, as well as being CAT scanned and x-rayed. If evolutionists could have been wrong about this fossil, they could be wrong about most anything (and they often are).
A few honest scientists expressed disagreement. No less an authority than the Curator of Birds at the Smithsonian Institute, Storrs Olsen, noted that it was missing bones connecting the tail and that “None of the structures … that are claimed to be feathers have actually been proven to be feathers.” Olsen called the fossil, “prejudice”, “imaginary”, “biased”, and “one of the grander scientific hoaxes of our age.” UNC’s Alan Feduccia, also an evolutionary authority on birds, agreed with Olsen that it was a “hoax”.
Their reservations were vindicated when Chinese paleontologist Xu Xing found the other half of the fossil, showing that it was actually a mixture of two different creatures. He recognized the tail was of a Microraptor he had been working on, and the body has been identified as a Yanornis, a true bird with teeth and claws. He lamented, “For science, this is a disaster.”
Wrong, Dr. Xu. For the fairy-story of evolution this is a disaster, for actual honest science and truth this is a victory.
Next is the fossil of archaeopteryx, a forerunner of the archaeoraptor in the dubious line of evidence for a connection between dinosaurs and birds. It is alleged to be a transitional fossil because it has claws and teeth. However, there are other undisputed fossil birds with teeth and living birds with claws, indicating that those traits are not evidence of transition. Mammals, lizards, and other types of animals show that some can have teeth and others don’t, indicating the presence or lack of teeth is irrelevant.
If archaeopteryx is legitimate, all it is is a bird, not a transition. Undisputed birds are found in the fossil record a supposed 75 million years earlier than archaeopteryx, thus it can’t be a transition to a bird.
There are too many inconceivable changes that would have to occur for a creature to turn into a reptile from a bird. Besides the unlikelihood of complex feathers forming, the respiratory systems are totally different. Birds have a one-way system of breathing, which even uses their bones. Long before the respiratory system could finish such a drastic change, it would be inefficient as either kind of apparatus and the creature would suffocate.
There is some evidence however, that archaeopteryx may be as phony as its new cousin. The feathers were not transitional, but fully modern. It had mismatched halves, apparent glue drips with no corresponding impression on the other half, an apparent double strike, it was in limestone, which is easy to forge, and most of the fossils were found near Eichstatt, Germany, near where Ernst Haeckel lived. He was involved in at least three other scams and was rebuked by Jena University, where he taught, for fraud. Curiously, the London Museum, already embarrassed by the Piltdown hoax, refused to allow the archaeopteryx to be examined after several scientists began to question it’s authenticity.