Archaeopteryx

Many who believe in evolution claim that the first birds lived about 140 million years ago (according to the way evolutionists measure time). Some say that the very first bird, a strange creature called Archaeopteryx (AR-kee-OP-ter-ix), was a link between reptiles and birds.

The reasons evolutionists give for their views are: (1)Archaeopteryx had claws on its wings; claws, they say, suggest that Archaeopteryx had been a reptile in the past. (2) It had teeth; since modern birds don't, the teeth must hint of a reptile background.

These arguments do not prove that Archaeopteryx was a reptile-bird link. Think about the following:

1. There are modern birds that have claws on their wings. The hoatzin of South America has claws when it is young. The touraco of Africa has claws. The ostrich has three claws on each wing. The presence of "claws" says nothing about a creature's ancestry.

2. Fossils are the remains of ancient creatures in the rock. Fossil studies have shown that other truebirds—now extinct—also had teeth. And so, the presence of teeth does not mean thatArchaeopteryx was not a true bird.

3. This strange bird also had feathers, just like birds today. The feathers were fully formed.Archaeopteryx did not have half scales-half feathers, but fully-formed feathers.

4. It also is known that there were other true birds living at the same time as Archaeopteryx. This creature was not on its way to becoming a bird.

The Bible clearly shows that birds were birds from the beginning of their existence. They could fly on that "Thursday" of the creation week. In fact, according to the Bible, birds were flying before reptiles were formed the following day (Genesis 1:25).

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