Questions about evolution (and such)

[Hercules Rockefeller]

This is a common fallacy. 'We' were around when the dinosaurs were here. That is our ancestors were around and lived alongside the dinosaurs.

I don’t think it is valid to suggest that “we were around at the time of the dinosaurs” and “our ancestors were around at the time of the dinosaurs” are equivalent statements.

If we could survive back then, now that we are human we should be easily able to survive calamities that took out the dinosaurs but not our ancestors.

That doesn’t necessarily follow as a rule. The evolution of species often involves morphological/biochemical changes that alter the environment in which the organism can survive. Take cetaceans as an example. They evolved from land mammals. Are you saying that modern whales should be able to easily survive on land simply because their ancestors once lived in that environment?

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Yes really. there are no dinosaurs, or direct descendants of the dinosaurs that died out during that 'event' of some 65 MYA that are around today.

You are disagreeing with the widely-held theory that modern birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic period?

 

[Walter L. Wagner]

You are disagreeing with the widely-held theory that modern birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic period?

Birds evolved (from dinosaur-type reptiles) long before dinosaurs died out. They were already birds flying around at the same time that other dinosaurs lived. When the K-T event occurred, all of the dinosaurs died out, but the birds continued on. Nothing about my posts suggest I was disagreeing that birds evolved from theropods.

Likewise, I wrote 'we' because it is not the "we, the human beings extant today", but rather "we, which includes all of our direct ancestry to the earliest proto-primates" I'm not trying to write a dissertation, and I'm sorry if your were confused.

Finally, unlike your example (whales in oceans, while formerly on land environments), we have never left the general environment (dry land) of the proto-primates, so your analogy is inapplicable. I did, however, mention to Killjoy that it is not 'proof', but rather suggestive. People are quite adaptable, as you should admit, and live in all extremes of earth's present climate (arctic to tropic), so long as it is land-based.

 

[origin]

Birds evolved (from dinosaur-type reptiles) long before dinosaurs died out. They were already birds flying around at the same time that other dinosaurs lived. When the K-T event occurred, all of the dinosaurs died out, but the birds continued on. Nothing about my posts suggest I was disagreeing that birds evolved from theropods.

No, I think that is wrong, I do not believe any paleontologist thinks birds evolved directly from reptiles. Birds evolved directly from dinosaurs or another way to say it is that birds are flying dinosaurs. The KT extinction of land dwelling dinosaurs is anologous to all mammals dying out except for bats.

 

[Walter L. Wagner]

No, I think that is wrong, I do not believe any paleontologist thinks birds evolved directly from reptiles. Birds evolved directly from dinosaurs or another way to say it is that birds are flying dinosaurs. The KT extinction of land dwelling dinosaurs is anologous to all mammals dying out except for bats.

What exactly is it that you 'think' is wrong? Dinosaurs are (were) reptiles. Ergo, evolving from dinosaurs is evolving from reptiles. One could just as easily say birds evolved from single-cellular eukaryotic organisms, and it is still true. Almost every (if not every) paleontologist is aware of the feathered dinosaurs, one line of which evolved into birds long before the KT extinction event.