In the previous articles you can read how in the X2 Flight Exhibition in the Ulster Folk and Transport museum contains an exhibit displaying the evolution of a Dinosaur into a modern Bird. Due to the fact that our initial enquiry failed to receive an adequate response we decided to issue the challenge set out below.

The Challenge has been mailed to -

Mr Tim Cooke - Chief Executive of MAGNI
Mr Marshall McKee - Director of operations - MAGNI
Mrs Margaret Elliot - Chairman of MAGNI
Sir Kenneth Bloomfield - Vice Chairman of MAGNI
Dr Mike Simms of the Ulster Museum

(MAGNI stands for Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland)

Dear Ulster Folk and Transport Museum,

Having viewed your X2 Flight Exhibition I came across one exhibit which looked at the evolution of flight, displaying the transformation of a theropaud dinosaur through various stages into a modern bird. I have already sent you articles which question the truth and facts behind this exhibit. The response that I received was less than appropriate as it did not even attempt to answer one question about the difficulties of Dinosaur to Bird evolution which I had posed. Due to this miserable response to the questions that I asked about your exhibit on the evolution of Dinosaurs into Birds, which oversteps the boundaries of science and enters the realm of fantasy I feel that you owe it to the public to show the real evidence and facts behind this story.

Below I have outlined a series of questions and challenges which if you answer honestly will show the public the major problems of dinosaur to bird evolution which will in turn show the impossibility of it ever occurring.

Challenge 1 – Please provide a timeline showing the original dinosaur from which the modern bird evolved from, including all intermediary links in between. This timeline should include:

1) In which country the fossil was found

2) In which layer of strata the fossil was found

3) The assigned age given to the fossil

4) The dating method/s used to assign the given age to the fossil

5) The size of the fossil/s

6) The status that you ascribe to the fossil, whether that be a dinosaur, an intermediary link, or a bird, with reasons behind such a decision.

7) Protoavis texensis (whose discoverer Sankar Chatterjee regards it to be more like modern birds than Archaeopteryx) which by evolutionary dating methods is regarded to be 225 million years old (making it 75 million years older than Archaeopteryx).Please show where Protoavis texensis fits on your evolutionary timeline, and if it does not please give your reasons as to why not. (Two articles from Nature and Science were forwarded to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum on this issue in my initial enquiry, which with the rest of my questions was unaddressed).

Challenge 2 – The timeline provided which should show all the necessary stages of evolution from a dinosaur into a bird. A few of the more prominent features specifically mentioned below should be fully addressed in your timeline showing every transitional stage needed for these to occur.

1)      Feathers – In the timeline it should be obvious how reptiles with scales, who have no genetic information for feathers went through various stages to form asymmetric flight feathers, with barbules forming a sliding joint which is in turn lubricated by the bird secreting oil from glands at the base of its spine and then using its beak to spread the oil throughout the feathers. The evolution of this gland and oil used in preening should be clear in your timeline. Feathers have also been shown to be biochemically different from scales furthering the problem of how they supposedly evolved.

2)      Lungs – In the timeline it should be obvious how the unidirectional flow of the avian lung developed from a bellow type lung of a reptile. It will address the problem of how an intermediary system would have allowed the creature to breath.

3)      Bone structure – In the timeline it should be obvious to account for the huge difference in the porous and hollow bone of most birds and the hard and solid bone structure of reptiles. It will also show how the sternum developed and account for the difference in the skulls between birds and reptiles.

4)      Answers in Genesis point out that in the paper - Feduccia, A. and Nowicki, J., The hand of birds revealed by early ostrich embryos, Naturwissenschaften 89:391–393, 2002 – It shows that only digits two, three and four develop in birds This contrasts with dinosaur hands that developed from digits one, two and three. Feduccia points out in the paper -‘This creates a new problem for those who insist that dinosaurs were ancestors of modern birds. How can a bird hand, for example, with digits two, three and four evolve from a dinosaur hand that has only digits one, two and three? That would be almost impossible.’ This problem will of course be addressed in your timeline which will show where and when the problem was resolved.

The above challenges merely represent a few of the major obstacles of Dinosaur to Bird evolution that should be all clearly addressed on your timeline.

On your website you advertise the fact that you have been voted Irish Museum of the Year and that the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum ranks among Ireland's most important cultural, educational and tourist facilities. I have no doubt that this is the case which makes it even more important that everything that you display is 100% accurate. In the case of Dinosaur to Bird evolution I feel that you have merely displayed propaganda for an unsubstantiated belief. In responding to my challenges above it should give your experts an ample amount of reason to see that the evidence is not in favour of Dinosaur to Bird evolution occurring and that your display should be removed.

Yours sincerely,

Philip Robinson

(Please see the list of suggested further reading in the previous two articles as well.)