A bird fossil discovered by palaeontologists in the Chinese province of Gansus was introduced in the 16 June, 2006, edition of the American scientific magazine Science. (1) The discovery was made by a team led by Hai-Lou You from the Geology Institute in Beijing, Jerry Harris from Dixie State College in the US state of Utah and Matt Lamanna from the Carniege Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, also in the USA. On 16 June the Turkish daily Radikal announced the discovery in question under the headline "Another missing link for evolution." However, the discovery in question actually provides no supporting evidence for the theory of evolution at all, and Radikal is merely resorting once again to those evolutionary fairy tales with which we are so familiar.
Our research into the matter shows that the daily Radikal account is seriously distorted, far removed from reality and totally based on preconceptions. The facts concerning this species of bird, given the scientific name Gansus yumenensis, are dealt with and the unrealistic aspects of Radikal"s interpretation set out below.
The first specimen of the fossil species known as Gansus yumenensis is known to have been discovered in 1983 and to consist of a fossilised leg. The newsworthy thing about this species was the finding of other G. yumenensis specimens during wider excavations by palaeontologists in recent years and the fact that since these were very well preserved scientists were able to obtain new information about this creature that lived 110 million years ago.
G. yumenensis was an aquatic bird, like modern ducks. The well-preserved fossils provide more detail about the webs on its feet. This bird, some 25 cm long, possessed all the equipment necessary for flying and diving, and as long ago as 110 million years ago.
Jerald Harris, one of the authors of the Science magazine article, is a researcher at Dixie State College in the state of Utah in the USA and describes G. yumenensis in these words.
"Gansus would probably have looked very much like a grebe or a diver, or certain kinds of ducks. It had webbed feet and it had fairly powerful legs. We can tell that from looking at the bones in the knee area. This tells us it was a very well-adapted diving or swimming-type bird." (2)
Luis Chiappe of the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles Country describes the significance of G. yumenensis by saying that it was "definitely a good flier," while in analysis based on the Science magazine article the Guardian"s Steve Connor referred to the way that "A study of the fossils, published in the journal Science, shows that Gansus had not just webbed feet but the bony knees used as the muscle attachments that were needed by powerful underwater swimmers." (3)
G. yumenensis, which was able to fly and dive perfectly, just like today"s diving birds, deals yet another severe blow to the theory of evolution.
Notable stasis
Stasis is a term used to refer to the way that fossil species maintain the same anatomies over millions of years without undergoing any change in any direction throughout their time on Earth. This phenomenon represents the antithesis of the change maintained by the theory of evolution, covers the entire fossil record and is one of the main reasons why the majority of palaeontologists have finally abandoned Darwinism.
And it can now also be seen in the species G. yumenensis.
And it can now also be seen in the species G. yumenensis.
The group comprising modern birds and various extinct species is classified under the name "Ornithurae." Prior to the discovery of the latest G. yumenensis specimens the oldest fossil specimens bearing Ornithurae characteristics dated back 99 million years. But that title has now passed to G. yumenensis, and has also been taken back a further 11 million years in time.
With this characteristic, the G. yumenensis findings tell us the following: the features that make birds what they are have undergone no change, not for 99 million years, but for 110 million. Like modern-day diving birds, this bird possessed an asymmetrical feather structure, webbed feet and oil sacs used to groom its feathers. What we are looking at is a most striking, 110-million-year-old specimen that bears all the basic characteristics of modern birds. Structures that should, according to the theory of evolution, have developed gradually have actually existed unchanged ever since birds first came into existence.
Harris expresses the astonishing nature of this finding in the words: If you took most of the bones in its body, including famous pieces like the breastbone and the wishbone, and put them next to those of a modern bird, you"d have a lot of difficulty telling them apart," (4) and "You wouldn"t have expected something to be so modern so far back into the Cretaceous". (5)
As we have seen, evolutionists looking for atransitional form for the bird evolution scenario are now confronted by specimens that carry the characteristics of modern-day birds back a further 11 million years in time with structures that have remained unchanged for 110 million years. Yet Radikal amazingly ignores this truth, once again revealed in the form of G. yumenensis, and even equates it with the evolutionist myth of the "missing link."
Let us now move on to Radikal"s interpretation of the subject and see the kind of desperate logic to which blind devotion to a theory can lead evolutionists.
The Desperation behind the Missing Link Distortion
Radikal claimed that G. yumenensis "completes the missing link in the evolution of birds" and "shows that modern-day birds evolved from water-dwelling animals." However, when we consider both claims they can immediately be seen to consist of exaggerated and groundless speculation by people who have adopted the theory of evolution as a dogma. Gansus yumenensis provides no objective backing for these claims.
Let us first have a closer look at the "missing link" claim that certain amateur evolutionists have been making reference to in recent days. Very oddly, Radikal newspaper imagines that every new fossil discovery confirms the theory of evolution, and excitedly reported the Gansus yumenensis under the headline "another missing link found."
First of all, it needs to be made clear that a fossil with the characteristics of modern-day birds, and that in addition reveals 110 million years of stasis by taking these features back a further 11 million years in time, constitutes no link for evolution. The fossils represent a flawless animal whose parents were birds, that was able to fly perfectly, dive to the water"s bottom in search of prey and chase that prey by beating its powerfully muscled legs, in other words, it was a "bird" in every respect.
Whether living today or 1000 or 110 million years in the past, a living thing with such features is still a bird. Has it any imperfectly developed functions, a semi-formed wing, breastbone, feathers or feet, for instance? Has any new property been discovered that brings birds strikingly closer to the carnivorous dinosaurs described as the forerunners of birds in the evolutionist literature?
No.
In that case, how can Radikal refer to this bird as a "missing link"?
As is invariably the case, this all stems from an attempt to persist with propaganda in favour of the theory of evolution, no matter how far removed from reality, no matter how fantastic or how blind it may be.
Since G. yumenensis is the oldest example to have come down to the present day from the same age as certain extinct bird groups and to bear the characteristics of modern-day birds, evolutionists interpret it as being an evolutionary link. The fact is, however, that it is clear what a forced and fantastic interpretation this is.
The data possessed by evolutionists consist of extinct groups being distinguished from modern-day birds by certain anatomical criteria. Yet they oddly progress from this to telling tall tales about missing links.
The fact that other bird groups have become extinct and the relatively lower numbers sharing characteristics with modern-day birds constitutes no evidence for evolution. Because the theory of evolution claims to account for the emergence of new lines. Since, by virtue of reason and logic, extinct lines cannot lead to new ones, they cannot be evaluated within that framework.
To simplify and summarise the situation, forms A and B, that lived side by side until 110 million years ago, both became extinct. However, evolutionists regard one of these as an evolutionary forerunner, since it has more features in common with modern birds, and resort to the myth that it is linked to form B. Yet it is evident that in doing this they are "fictionalising" in the light of the dogma they have adopted right from the outset, and that no "evidence" of any kind has actually been put forward. Because the fact that the two forms lived together is evidence that neither A evolved from B, nor B from A, nor both from a common forebear.
In addition, it needs to be made clear that G. yumenensis does not show that modern birds evolved from water-dwelling creatures, as Radikal would have us believe. G. yumenensis is merely the oldest specimen sharing several characteristics with modern birds. These words, which mean "the oldest bird is the evolutionary forerunner of all birds," are a biased interpretation based solely on evolutionists" own preconceptions.
Conclusion
G. yumenensis is neither a missing link nor the evolutionary ancestor of all modern birds. The claims set out in daily Radikal are a "fantasy" formed by patching evolutionist tales onto findings that by themselves provide no support for the theory of evolution.
With its physiological and biomechanical properties that make avian flight possible and which each represent a separate miracle, and that have remained unchanged for 110 million years, G. yumenensis is by itself a proof of creation. As can be seen from the report in daily Radikal, evolutionists seeking to oppose this fact are despairingly attempting to turn the situation to their own advantage. We once again remind the Radikal propaganda team that they can get nowhere by these means and that if they persist in this behaviour they will be remembered as having supported the greatest falsehood in the history of science, and also advise them to put an end to the strategy of misleading the Turkish public by means of such fairy tales.
1. Science, (vol 312, p. 1640), 16 June 2006
2. China fossils fill out bird story, news.bbc.co.uk, 16 June 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Science/nature/5085686.stm
2. China fossils fill out bird story, news.bbc.co.uk, 16 June 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Science/nature/5085686.stm
3. http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article1089262.ece
4. China fossils fill out bird story, news.bbc.co.uk, 16 June 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Science/nature/5085686.stm
5. http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn9341
5. http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn9341
