Note it was just “lengthy wisps”. I would not be surprised if the wisps turn out to be something other than feathers, such as partly decayed collagen fibres.
In order to make the announcement convincing and grab the media’s imagination the news releases were accompanied by a spectacular drawing of a dinosaur running through long bushes arrayed with massive plumage of brilliantly coloured feathers on its forelimbs. These were drawn as proper feathers, not just a few wisps.
Apart from the misinformation in the claim that the dinosaur Ornithomimus had feathered wings, it raised many puzzles and questions. It was not difficult to list some of them.
Ornithomimus was too big and its alleged wings were too small for it to be able to fly. The researchers said this indicates the initial use of its wings was not for flight.
The large clusters of feathers on its forelimbs would have been of no use for flying. But they would have been a major hindrance for walking and feeding. The researchers said the dinosaurs may have used their “flashy feathers” to woo potential mates, peacock style.
The announcement said the find will "shed light on origin of wings". However, according to evolutionary assumptions wings already existed. Archaeopteryx is ‘dated’ as 80 million years older than this Canadian Ornithomimus, which was assigned to the late Cretaceous, supposedly 71 million years ago. This has long been claimed to be the ancestor of birds and already had wings—impressive ones at that. Indeed, it looks like it could fly.
The reports said the Ornithomimus specimens were apparently covered in “stringy down up to 2 inches (5 cm) long”. Note that these are not feathers but just “stringy down”. Yet the report described the strings as “filament-like feathers” (more spin). Note that the artist’s embellishment, showed not lengths of stringy down on the limbs but, an impressive array of fully formed feathers.
Most of the fossils of Archaeopteryx, which is dated at 80 million years older than this Ornithomimus fossil, include impressions of feathers—impressions that were of an ‘advanced’ form, in that they are of flight feathers. So Ornithomimus throws no light on the origin of feathers, even within their own evolutionary framework, because feathers already existed.
Note that the fossil is well preserved, indicating that the creature was buried rapidly before it had been scavenged and before the remains had rotted and disintegrated. The evidence points to a short time for the death and burial of the fossil.
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| Artist Reconstruction of his own imagination |
The puzzles, bloopers, problems and need for exaggerated artist’s reconstructions disappear when we look at this evidence from the point of view of biblical history. These dinosaurs were buried during Noah’s Flood as the waters were rising. They were overwhelmed and their remains were interred."
CMI
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;
so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be.
Matthew 24:39
