In desperate search of anything remotely close to an evolutionary “missing link”, evolutionary publications continue to publish the mythos that dinosaurs evolved into birds. The unbelievable tenets of this belief and the complete absence of evidence are laid out in our previous 3-part series entitled “Believing in Feather Tales”, available on the ministry website.¹ More recently, an article popped up by Discover Magazine entitled “Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?”² I clicked the link to see if anything new was presented. On the contrary, I was almost surprised at how old the arguments and presented evidence were, arguments that have long since been debunked.

The article claims that “Dinosaurs closely related to birds were feathered.”³ What are the specimens put forth to support this claim? Five examples are given: Sinosauropteryx, Archaeopteryx, Microraptor, Velociraptor, and Yutyrannus. Here’s what’s actually been discovered about these top 5 specimens that supposedly support dino-to-bird evolution.

1. Sinosauropteryx – In January of 2023, Nature published an article celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the supposed first discovered dinosaur with feathers.⁴ Sadly for the evolutionists, everything about this specimen supports the conclusion it is a dinosaur, not a bird, nor a dino-to-bird transition. According to other evolutionary scientists who have examined the fossil in detail, it has all the traits of cold-bloodedness, including a reptilian respiratory system.⁵ And, the alleged feathers turned out to be decayed collagen fibers of skin; they are clearly under the preserved skin impression.⁶ Conclusion: Sinosauropteryx is most assuredly a dinosaur with no feathers.
2. Archaeopteryx – This one has been around for so long (1861), there is little left to say about it, except that it is a bird. The Discover article mostly admitted that, saying, “Often considered the first bird…” The only thing the article could claim that made it somewhat like a dinosaur is that it had teeth and claws. First, a bird with claws doesn’t make it a dinosaur; it makes it a bird with claws, such as the Hoatzin found in South America.⁷ Neither do teeth make a bird a dinosaur, nor a piranha a dinosaur or a cat or anything else with teeth. This is why it has been accepted for decades that Archaeopteryx was simply a bird.⁸
3. Microraptor – If only flying birds molt their primary feathers sequentially, as described by Current Biology in 2020,⁹ then a fossil of a bird (Microraptor) with sequentially molting feathers¹⁰ should lead to the conclusion that it is a bird and not a dinosaur, correct? Not for Discover, which says, “Microraptor was a small, feathered dinosaur”. What can be said to people who refuse to acknowledge reality? All we can do is pray for their hearts to be softened and minds opened to the Gospel.
4. Velociraptor – Discover claims in the article, “Velociraptor had feathers covering its body.” How many fossils of this dinosaur have actually been found with feathers “covering its body”? Zero. The only “evidence” to support their claim are microscopic bumps found on one arm bone (ulna), that are supposed to be the attachment points for feathers. This has been debunked even by evolutionary scientists¹¹ and can be read about in Part 3 of our “Believing in Feather Tales” series.¹²
5. Yutyrannus – Discover states in the article, “It was one of the largest known feathered dinosaurs”. What was actually discovered? As Nature described, “filamentous integumentary [skin] structures.”¹³ That would be decayed skin resulting from its burial during the Flood, just like what was found with the Sinosauropteryx. Here is the deception as explained by paleontologist Dr. Gabriela Haynes, “Filamentous structures could be called feathers or feather-like only if the new evolutionary definition for feathers (a redefinition based on evolutionary assumptions) is applied. In this view, a filamentous structure is one of the first stages of supposed ‘feather evolution,’ and therefore such a structure can be called a feather”.¹⁴

When describing a parrot fossil discovered in dinosaur layers, scientists in an article for Nature concluded, “living bird lineages… coexisted with other dinosaurs… at least duck, chicken and ratite bird relatives were coextant [living with dinosaurs]”.¹⁵ Numerous bird fossils have been discovered with dinosaur fossils, even bird remains in dinosaur stomachs!¹⁶ How can a bird be the evolutionary descendant from a dinosaur when it is found in its evolutionary ancestor’s stomach? As Dr. Sharp would say, “I’m glad I don’t have to explain that.” How much simpler, scientific, and reasonable it is to believe the Creator and His Word.

1. https://www.creationtruth.com/believing-in-feather-tales-part1-1

2. Riley Black, “Did All Dinosaurs Have Feathers?”, Discover Magazine, published 26 September 2023, accessed 17 January 2024, <https://preview.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/did-all-dinosaurs-have-feathers>.

3. Ibid.

4. Kevin Padian, “25th anniversary of first feathered-dinosaur finds”, Nature 613: 251-252, 2023.

5. Ann Gibbons, “Lung fossils suggest dinos breathed in cold blood”, Science 278: 1229-1230, 1997.

6. Lingham-Soliar, et. al., “A new Chinese specimen indicates that ‘protofeathers’ in the Early Cretaceous theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx are degraded collagen fibres”, Proc. Biol. Sci. 274: 1823-1829, 2007.

7. Perrins, et al., Birds: Their Life, Their Ways, Their World, Readers Digest: Pleasantville, NY, 6th ed., 1986, p. 277.

8. Dr. Gabriela Haynes, “The Debate over Classification of Archaeopteryx as a Bird”, Answers Research Journal 15: 285-300, 2022.

9. Kiat, et al., “Sequential Molt in a Feathered Dinosaur and Implications for Early Paravian Ecology and Locomotion”, Current Biology 30(18): 1-6, 2020.

10. Dr. Brian Thomas, “New Evidence Hurts Feathered Dinosaur Theory”, Institute for Creation Research, 09 September 2020, accessed 17 January 2024, <https://www.icr.org/article/new-evidence-hurts-feathered-dinosaur-theory>.

11. Dr. Darren Naish, “Concavenator: an incredible allosaurid with a weird sail (or hump)… and proto feathers”, scienceblogs.com, 9 September 2010, accessed 08 October 2022, <http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2010/09/09/concavenator-incredible-allosauroid/>.

12. https://www.creationtruth.com/believing-in-feather-tales-part-3

13. Xu, et al., “A gigantic feathered dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China”, Nature 484: 92-95, 2012.

14. Dr. Gabriela Haynes, “Dinosaurs in Birds’ Clothing?”, Answers in Depth, 29 June 2022, accessed 18 January 2024, <https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/dinosaurs-in-birds-clothing/>.

15. Clarke, et al., “Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous”, Nature 433: 305-308, 2005.

16. Xing, et al., “Abdominal Contents from Two Large Early Cretaceous Compsognathids (Dinosauria: Theropoda) Demonstrate Feeding on Confuciusornithids and Dromaeosaurids”, PLoS ONE 7(8): 1-11, 2012.