Earlier this week, I wrote about a study of the mammalian placenta that did not surprise me. (Spoiler: It matched exactly what we’d expect starting with God’s Word!) Well, today I get to write about another very not shocking study: A fossilized bird wrist that looks like . . . a bird wrist!
Now, the headlines aren’t going to tell you this. The title of a popular science summary of the paper reads, “Dinosaur wrist bone discovery reshapes understanding of flight evolution.” Yes, to evolutionists this study was surprising . . . and (once again!) rewrites their (fairy) story. But in a biblical worldview, the headline is far less exciting—extinct birds had wrists like birds! But wrists were designed by God—they didn’t happen by chance.
According to the summary, the study focused on “two theropod dinosaur fossils.” Okay, we’re into the first sentence of the summary and already we need to correct them—these weren’t “theropod dinosaurs.” They were birds!
How do I know? Well, consider what follows: “[This analysis] has shown that they had a type of carpal bone (pisiform) in their wrists—a bone considered important to flight in birds.”
Yes, these two “dinosaurs” had a tiny bone in their wrists that’s found only in birds! This confirms the research we’ve been doing here at Answers in Genesis: The “troodontid, a birdlike raptor related to the Velociraptor; and an oviraptorid, an odd birdlike omnivore with a long neck and a toothless beak” weren’t just “birdlike”—they were birds.
Of course, to explain this unexpected finding, the evolutionary researchers turn to some storytelling:
This [wrist] bone was originally a sesamoid bone like a kneecap, and had moved from its original position in the wrist to replace the ulnare, another carpal bone. Its position in modern birds appears to establish linkages that allow birds to fold their wings automatically when the elbow flexes.
The bone’s shape—with a large V-shaped notch—also allows the pisiform of birds to clasp their hand bones to stop them from dislocating during flight. Therefore, this bone is an important part of a bird’s forelimb and critical to flight.
So a bone similar to a kneecap just happened to move over millions of years and become a sophisticated wristbone that, together with other bones (and don’t forget all the soft tissue—muscles, ligaments, tendons, nervous system, etc.—that also must work with the bones!), enables birds to do exactly what they need to do. This story strains the imagination!
Oh, and this summary article also repeats the claim that, according to evolutionary assumptions, “flight evolved at least twice, and possibly up to five times” just in this group of “dinosaurs” as they supposedly evolved into birds—not to mention bats, insects, pterosaurs, and other flyers!
No, this study isn’t a shocking rewrite of what we thought we knew. This study actually confirms a scientific prediction published by one of our researchers, paleoartist Joel Leineweber, in 2023: “Flightless maniraptors will be found with wings similar to flightless birds today.”
Yes, this new study is just another confirmation of the biblical creation model and the failure of the evolutionary model!
Yes, this new study is just another confirmation of the biblical creation model and the failure of the evolutionary model!
You can learn more about which “dinosaurs” were actually birds in the video “The Surprising Truth About Velociraptors,” featuring Joel Leineweber, on our YouTube channel (there’s so much great content on that channel—be sure to join our over 800,000 subscribers if you haven’t already!).
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.