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| quote: | Originally posted by occrider
Speaking of non-existant transitional fossils, I just read this new development on the study of Archaeopteryx today:
Scientists Say Dinosaur Bird Was Equipped to Fly
Wed Aug 4, 2004 02:07 PM ET
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - A dinosaur bird that lived 147 million years ago had a brain similar to a modern eagle or parrot and was equipped to fly, scientists said on Wednesday.
Archaeopteryx is the most ancient bird known. It had the bony tail and teeth of a dinosaur and the feathers and wings of a bird but its flying ability has never been proven.
But researchers in the United States and Britain have used sophisticated computer imaging of the braincase from a fossil of Archaeopteryx found in Germany in 1861 to show that the creature had all the characteristics and brain power to conquer the skies.
"Archaeopteryx's brain, its senses and its ear turned out to be surprisingly more bird-like than we thought," Dr Angela Milner, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, said in an interview.
"It is regarded as the most primitive bird we know and its skeleton is almost all dinosaur except that it has feathers and wings, so we were surprised that its brain was already quite an advanced bird-like brain."
The particular shape of the brain, its inner ear which is linked to balance, and its sensory ability have convinced scientists it was capable of flying.
"It had everything in place in its neurosensory functions and structures that suggest it was well-equipped to fly," Milner added.
OLDEST BIRD BRAIN
Archaeopteryx was small -- about the size of a European magpie. The evidence showing it was capable of flying, reported in the science journal Nature, raises new questions about the origins of flight.
"Archaeopteryx's brain was fully equipped for flight and it had a bird-like brain. Obviously the evolutionary trends that led to that must have happened a lot further back in time than we really thought," said Milner.
Scientists at the London museum removed the 20 millimeter (0.8 inch) braincase from the rest of the fossil and collaborated with researchers at the University of Texas at Austin who constructed a three-dimensional model of its brain using computer images.
"This animal had huge eyes and a huge vision region in its brain to go along with that, and a great sense of balance," said Dr Timothy Rowe, of the Texas university.
"Its inner ear looks very much like the ear of a modern bird."
Significant visual ability and brain power were thought to be needed to coordinate information from the eyes and ears that is essential for flight.
In a commentary in the journal, Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio described the research as a landmark study.
"The results have implications for both the biology of Archaeopteryx and the evolutionary transition to birds," he said, adding that previous studies have looked at the structure of wings and features for clues about the creature's ability to fly.
"But flight isn't just about wings, rudders and flaps. It's also about the pilot and on-board computer, and those are the missing elements that this new study provides for Archaeopteryx," he added.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....32&pageNumber=1
I wish Nessa was still around to debunk it  |
Heard about this on NPR this morning. Extremely interesting.
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Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...
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