Re: Dinosaur feathers found?

Steve Clark (ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu)
Wed, 23 Oct 1996 16:06:23 -0500

At 02:31 PM 10/23/96 -0500, Joel Duff wrote:
>Group,
>
>I just came accross this article in the _Science_ "hot news" updates from
>yesterday. I presume an aticle is forthcoming in an upcoming issue of
>Science but I copied the blurb and am posting it for anyones interest.
>
>copied text from http://www.sciencenow.org/html/961021b.htm
>----------
>
>Dinosaurs: Our Fine Feathered Friends?
>A fossil dinosaur in China appears to have had a mane of feathers running
>down its neck, back, and tail--making it the first known feathered dinosaur
>and giving scientists compelling evidence that
>dinosaurs gave rise to birds.

I've picked on the logic of antievolution arguments often enough here, but
to show you that I don't like poorly argued points, regardless of the
source, let me say that from the blurb Joel posted, this is NOT compelling
evidence that dinosaurs were acestors of birds. The presence of feathers on
dinos is consistent with that model, but does not provide COMPELLING proof
of that proposition. This observation is equally consistent with convergent
evolution.

Cheers,

Steve
____________________________________________________________
Steven S. Clark, Ph.D . Phone: 608/263-9137
Associate Professor FAX: 608/263-4226
Dept. of Human Oncology and Email: ssclark@facstaff.wisc.edu
UW Comprehensive Cancer Center
CSC K4-432
600 Highland Ave.
Madison, WI 53792

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to
search out a matter." Proverbs
____________________________________________________________