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To: Right Wing Professor
Hoatzins and Ostriches and apparently other bird species have claws on their wings. Baby birds are born with a tooth like appendage that helps them get out of their shell, so they must have the genetics to form teeth. And, a bony tail could be just a micro-evolution adaptation of a creature or some strange genetic mutation. It doesn't turn him into part dinosaur or indicate that he is a transitional species at all. Further, feathers and scales are quite different and one can not become the other. They don't have the right make up for that.
1,711 posted on 08/20/2003 3:12:49 PM PDT by DittoJed2
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To: DittoJed2
DittoJed2 wrote: Hoatzins and Ostriches and apparently other bird species have claws on their wings.

Interesting about the hoatzin, one of the most primitive birds, and one which seems not to be closely related to any other living bird. The wing claws are found only in the young bird, and persist only for 10 weeks. It looks very much like a case of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny.

Ostrich wing claws are modified feathers and not in any way homologous.

Baby birds are born with a tooth like appendage that helps them get out of their shell, so they must have the genetics to form teeth.

Ever seen a chick 'egg tooth'? Know where it is?

http://www.owlpages.com/species/bubo/virginianus/greathorned12.html

And, a bony tail could be just a micro-evolution adaptation of a creature or some strange genetic mutation.

All Archaeopteryxes have them, so it's not a simple mutation of one individual.

Buit more broadly, your post fails Occam's razor. The simplest and most compact explanation is that Archaeopteryx is a transitional form. You can always argue that all of its reptilian features were secondary adaptations; but no living bird shows wing claws in the adult derived from the hand bones; no other shows teeth in the jaw in any way homologous to reptilian teeth; and no other has a long, bony tail.

1,813 posted on 08/21/2003 8:30:46 AM PDT by Right Wing Professor
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