Do Bird Embryos Show Evidence of Evolving from Dinosaurs? | The Institute for Creation Research

Do Bird Embryos Show Evidence of Evolving from Dinosaurs?
The majority of zoologists and vertebrate paleontologists believe that birds are actually flying dinosaurs. This even includes the world’s smallest bird, the bee hummingbird of Cuba.

Some scientists recently reported that they could allegedly see bird embryos passing through a dinosaur stage, which they interpreted as evidence of evolution.

All baby birds have a moment prior to hatching when their hip bone is a tiny replica of a dinosaur's pelvis. That's one of the findings in a new, Yale-led study in the journal Nature that explores the evolutionary underpinnings of the avian hip bone. It is also a modern-day nod to the dramatic transformation that led from dinosaurs to birds over tens of millions of years.1

But such a strange transformation is in the eye of the beholder. Visual interpretation can be subjective—based on an individual’s worldview. Evolutionary researchers are convinced that birds are dinosaurs. Therefore, it’s hardly surprising that they are also convinced that bird embryos progress through a stage of dinosaur hip development.

If this progression sounds familiar to some, it’s because it harkens back to a failed theory that was used by evolutionists for decades called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism. German zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) popularized this idea of a vertebrate embryo going through supposed evolutionary stages with the infamous phrase “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny." In other words: The development of an individual repeats its evolutionary descent. For example, evolutionists state that folds in the neck (pharyngeal pouches) of the human embryo correspond to the gills in our fishlike ancestors! However, according to two developmental biologists,

The first pair of pharyngeal pouches become the auditory cavities of the middle ear and the associated eustachian tubes. The second pair of pouches gives rise to the walls of the tonsils. The thymus is derived from the third pair of pharyngeal pouches….2

Haeckel’s idea of recapitulation has not survived.3 More recently, five evolutionists gave their evaluation of the biogenetic law.

Haeckel based his biogenetic law on the flawed premise that evolutionary change occurs primarily by successively adding new features onto the end of an unaltered ancestral ontogeny while condensing the ancestral ontogeny into earlier developmental stages. This notion was based on Lamarck’s concept of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.4

"It was unexpected to find these initial stages of bird development look so much like the hips of an early dinosaur,"1 said Christopher Griffin, a postdoctoral associate and lead author of the study. But perhaps their interpretation is wrong. It would be interesting to hear what evolutionists who doubt dinosaur-bird evolution think of this study.

The University of California Museum of Paleontology stated, “Embryos do reflect the course of evolution, but that course is far more intricate and quirky than Haeckel claimed. Different parts of the same embryo can even evolve in different directions.”5 If this is true, then another layer of doubt can be added to the idea that all bird embryos transition through an alleged dinosaur stage.

God created birds as birds on Day 5 and dinosaurs as dinosaurs on Day 6 of the creation week about six thousand years ago.

References
1. Shelton, J. The developing bird pelvis passes through ancestral dinosaurian conditions. PhysOrg. Posted on phys.org. August 5, 2022, accessed September 6, 2022.
2. Barresi, M. and S. Gilbert. 2020. Developmental Biology, 12th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 609.
3. Lovtrup, S. 1978. On von Baerian and Haeckelian recapitulation. Systematic Zoology. 27:348-52.
4. Hickman, et al. 2020. Integrated Principles of Zoology. McGraw Hill, 116.
5. Early Evolution and Development: Ernst Haeckel. Evolution 101, University of California Museum of Paleontology. Understanding Evolution. Posted on Berkeley.edu December 22, 2012, accessed September 6, 2022.

Dr. Sherwin is Research Scientist at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Pensacola Christian College.
The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Searching for Truth Across the Globe | Creation.Live Podcast:...
How can we bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the truth of creation to others outside our small spheres of influence?   Host...

NEWS
Marine Mammals: Designed for Deep Diving
While you’re reading this, hold your breath. What is now happening is your blood is delivering the last of oxygenated blood cells to your tissues...

CREATION PODCAST
Humanity's Demise at the Hands of Genetic Entropy | The Creation...
Welcome to the fourth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
''Inside-Out'' Fossil is Amazingly Preserved
It is widely known that vast numbers of fossils—vertebrate and invertebrate—have been discovered incredibly well-preserved.1,2...

NEWS
The Resurrection and the Origin of Life
At Easter time we focus on the cardinal Christian doctrine of the Resurrection. Without the Resurrection, Christianity is a sham. The truth that Jesus...

NEWS
Is an Ancient Extinct Tree-Dweller Our Relative?
Human evolution has always been hazy with seemingly as many attempted explanations for how we evolved from animals as there are paleoanthropologists. Evolutionists...

NEWS
The Return of the Dire Wolf?
There’s been much recent excitement about the birth of three dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus) puppies by a Dallas-based biotech company: Colossal Bioscience....

CREATION PODCAST
Cracks in the Layers: Lake Suigetsu and the Old Earth Illusion...
Welcome to the third episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old earth...

NEWS
Fish Fossil Vomit
A rather unsavory news story recently appeared regarding fossilized vomit. Although it’s hardly dinner table conversation, it nonetheless supports...

NEWS
Dino Footprints Down Under
Dinosaur trackways1 are once again making the news. Australia is the setting of a remarkable series of dinosaur tracks attributed to ornithischian...