How does creation answer this? It's the scientific consensus that modern birds evolved directly from theropod dinosaurs. [Spirituality & Religion]
We even know now that many or even most theropod dinosaurs had some form of feathers. What they also had were clawed forearms, some of which turned into wings.
We see those same forearm/wing claws on some modern birds like the emu, the cassowary and the hoatzin.
This makes perfect sense from an evolutionary perspective since modern birds evolved from dinosaurs but how does creation explain it? Why did god make two different "kinds" of animal with such startlingly similar anatomy when some of them don't even [i]use[/i] that anatomy?
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They don’t know, they are making guesses on what seems plausible based on fossils of which many are incomplete.. they change their guesses every other week it seems. T-Rex went from a ferocious hunter to a wimpy scavenger.. all based on its tiny arms and it’s teeth.. like seriously, they don’t know, they weren’t there....
They really do know. They're really good at this stuff. I have in person watched a paleontologist pic up a fragment of bone no bigger than your thumbnail and correctly identify it as a hadrosaur bone, likely from a young animal. The debate about birds evolving from dinosaurs was a thing maybe 30 years ago. Today it's established science. Take a look at that archaeopteryx fossil in my OP. Does that look incomplete? Would even a laymen deny that it has features that appear both bird-like and saurian?
And t-rex was likely a ferocious predator and like most predators it also scavenged. In fact, some members of tyrannosauridae also appear to have hunted in groups. Terrifying thought, no?😉
@Deadcutie New evidence changes the picture - that's the nature of the field. It's how things are supposed to work, a process with a beginning but no end.
They know it the same way they know that microorganisms are the cause of many human illnesses. That's where the evidence points beyond a reasonable doubt.
It's possible that new evidence could come to light that germs aren't making you sick and that birds didn't evolve from dinosaurs...but it's not likely🙂
@Pikachu I’m open minded about it, but I’m not blindly accepting it either.. I do not accept it currently as it stands.. way to many guesses and assumptions..
@Deadcutie Science in general, is a "to the best of our current knowledge" situation, and when it comes to forensic evidence from fifty+ millions of years ago, that knowledge is scant and gathered very slowly - drawn on relatively few pieces of evidence, which means new evidence can change the picture dramatically. You don't want to get married to the details.
But it's the only game in town, and disregarding it wholesale is an irrational stance as well - especially for laymen who aren't equipped to evaluate the evidence themselves. Otherwise, you simply end up with nothing at all. Historically, rolling with the expert opinion has proven to be the best bet.
@QuixoticSoul Funny you bring up forensics, basically the field I will be studying.. and it’s a mess, most of it isn’t really that scientific. If evolution science is anything like forensics, it doesn’t bold well... It’s probably why I find it suspect.. I know how politics and bias agendas effect outcomes.. you may spout it’s scientific process on the surface to the ignorant, but I know how science operates under the table..
@Deadcutie Evolution is an incredibly interdisciplinary field, and a lot goes into it. Some parts of it involve something akin to forensics, with its own specialized knowhow and skills. Lots do not.
All in all, the evolutionary synthesis is just about the best supported theory in all of sciences, and an accepted fact. That the details of the picture can still shift, especially when we're looking back through geologic ages, doesn't diminish it. It's both inevitable, and also something that makes it exciting. It's a process that will most likely never end.
Politics affect every human enterprise. That science is in some ways an oppositional pursuit only makes conspiracies less likely.
@Deadcutie Science is full of squabbling, rancor, backstabbing, cheating, etc. Essentially, like the market, it's kept in check by regulations and philosophy, carrot and stick, perpetually doing the two steps forward, one step back routine, developing odd inefficiencies, pruning said inefficiencies, etc, etc. It's a very [i]human[/i] enterprise. If you think it's running poorly now, just go back a few centuries, and lmao.
But it goes on. And it [i]works[/i]. And it is the only game in town.
