Return to David's theory of evolution and purpose (Evolution)

by David Turell , Monday, February 12, 2024, 22:04 (283 days ago) @ David Turell

99.9% and 0.1%

dhw: Current species are the 0.1% of survivors, which means that 99.9% of extinct species were dead ends. There are indeed millions of lines that were not culled. The current estimate is that there are 8.7 million species of plants and animals alive today, compared to 5000,000,000 that were “culled”. That would be a percentage of 0.18 connected with us. Why would your all-powerful, one-purpose God design and cull 99.82 out of 100 species that had no connection with his purpose?

DAVID: You have just described how evolution works. New species comes from the old one. A purposeful process builds one step upon the last one, resulting in the 8.7 billion species here, with 99.9% of ancestors. Nothing was culled for NO GOOD REASON.

We know that many species of dinosaurs preceded the ones that became birds. In this one instance, God had many become extinct in reaching His goal. Here is an article on feather and flight development:

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-hidden-flight-feathers-reveal-dinosaurs.html

"In a new study in the journal PNAS, scientists examined hundreds of birds in museum collections and discovered a suite of feather characteristics that all flying birds have in common. These "rules" provide clues as to how the dinosaur ancestors of modern birds first evolved the ability to fly, and which dinosaurs were capable of flight.

"Not all dinosaurs evolved into birds, but all living birds are dinosaurs. Birds are members of the group of dinosaurs that survived when an asteroid hit the Earth 66 million years ago. Long before the asteroid hit, some of the members of a group of dinosaurs called Penneraptorans began to evolve feathers and the ability to fly.

"Members of the Penneraptoran group began to develop feathers before they were able to fly; the original purpose of feathers might have been for insulation or to attract mates. For instance, Velociraptor had feathers, but it couldn't fly.

***

"Kiat undertook a study of the feathers of every order of living birds, examining specimens from 346 different species preserved in museums around the world. As he looked at the wings and feathers from hummingbirds and hawks, penguins and pelicans, he noticed a number of consistent traits among species that can fly.

"For instance, in addition to asymmetrical feathers, all the flighted birds had between nine and 11 primary feathers. In flightless birds, the number varies widely— penguins have more than 40, while emus have none. It's a deceptively simple rule that's seemingly gone unnoticed by scientists.

"'It's really surprising, that with so many styles of flight we can find in modern birds, they all share this trait of having between nine and 11 primary feathers," says Kiat. "And I was surprised that no one seems to have found this before."

***

"In addition to modern birds, the researchers also examined 65 fossil specimens representing 35 different species of feathered dinosaurs and extinct birds. By applying the findings from modern birds, the researchers were able to extrapolate information about the fossils. "You can basically look at the overlap of the number of primary feathers and the shape of those feathers to determine if a fossil bird could fly, and whether its ancestors could," says O'Connor.

"For instance, the researchers looked at the feathered dinosaur Caudipteryx. Caudipteryx had nine primary feathers, but those feathers are almost symmetrical, and the proportions of its wings would have made flight impossible. The researchers said it's possible that Caudipteryx had an ancestor that was capable of flight, but that trait was lost by the time Caudipteryx arrived on the scene.

***

"Taken a step further, these data may inform the conversation among scientists about the origins of dinosaurian flight. "It was only recently that scientists realized that birds are not the only flying dinosaurs," says O'Connor.

"'And there have been debates about whether flight evolved in dinosaurs just once, or multiple separate times. Our results here seem to suggest that flight only evolved once in dinosaurs, but we have to really recognize that our understanding of flight in dinosaurs is just beginning, and we're likely still missing some of the earliest stages of feathered wing evolution."

"'Our study, which combines paleontological data based on fossils of extinct species with information from birds that live today, provides interesting insights into feathers and plumage—one of the most interesting evolutionary novelties among vertebrates. Thus, it helps us learn about the evolution of these dinosaurs and highlights the importance of integrating knowledge from different sources for an improved understanding of evolutionary processes," says Kiat.

"'Theropod dinosaurs, including birds, are one of the most successful vertebrate lineages on our planet," says O'Connor.

"'One of the reasons that they're so successful is their flight. One of the other reasons is probably their feathers, because there's such versatile structures. So any information that can help us understand how these two important features co-evolved that led to this enormous success is really important.'"

Comment: that birds are dinosaurs is now obvious. How dinosaurs contributed to the ecosystems of their time may explain their required existence. I view a purposeful God has having a good reason for their prolific population in their time of existence.