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A team from Creation Expeditions found a fossil of an Edmontosaurus hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) species which they called Ezekiel. The fossil included a skin impression which showed it had no feathers as expected by evolutionists, thus disproving that hadrosaurs were bird-reptile transitional forms. Furthermore, it was buried in strata containing garfish and turtles, which evolutionists would not expect, supporting the idea that Ezekiel was a victim of the Flood.

No scientists believes the hadrosaurs gave rise to the birds. Dinosaurs are divided into the Saurischia and the Ornithischia. Hadrosaurs are members of Ornithischia. Scientists who suggest that birds are descended from d...

Alaska Museum of Natural History, 1998. Hadrosaur tracks and skin. http://www.alaskamuseum.org/webed/dinosaurs/tracks&skin.html Polly, P. D. et al., 2003. Introduction to the Hadrosaurs. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diap...

Complex life forms appear suddenly in the Cambrian explosion, with no ancestral fossils.

...etching of volcanic glass from 3,480 Mya (Furnes et al. 2004). There are transitional fossils within the Cambrian explosion fossils. For example, there are lobopods (basically worms with legs) which are intermediate between arthropods and worms (Conway Morris 1998). Only some phyla appear in...

Allwood, A. C. et al. 2006. Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia. Nature 441: 714-718. See also Awramik, Stanley M. 2006. Respect for stromatolites. Nature 441: 700-701. Brocks, J. J., G. A. Logan, ...

Evolution has not been, and cannot be, proved. We cannot even see evolution (beyond trivially small change), much less test it experimentally.

...s. Fossil animals fit in the same tree of life. We find several cases of transitional forms in the fossil record. The fossils appear in a chronological order, showing change consistent with common descent over hundreds of millions of years and inconsistent with sudden creation. Many organisms...

Benner, S. A., M. D. Caraco, J. M. Thomson and E. A. Gaucher. 2002. Planetary biology--paleontological, geological, and molecular histories of life. Science 296: 864-868. Mercer, John M. and V. Louise Roth. 2003. The eff...

No case of macroevolution has ever been documented.

...arge changes in the adult organism (Shapiro et al. 2004). There are many transitional forms that show that macroevolution has occurred.

Shapiro M. D., M. E. Marks, C. L. Peichel, B. K. Blackman, K. S. Nereng, B. Jónsson, D. Schluter and D. M. Kingsley, 2004. Genetic and developmental basis of evolutionary pelvic reduction in threespine sticklebacks. Natu...

If evolution proceeds via the accumulation of small steps, we should see a smooth continuum of creatures across the fossil record. Instead, we see long periods where species do not change, and there are gaps between the changes.

...of life, for instance, to fly through the air; and consequently that the transitional forms would often long remain confined to some one region; but that, when this adaptation had once been effected, and a few species had thus acquired a great advantage over other organisms, a comparatively s...

Darwin, C. 1872. The Origin of Species , 6th Edition. Senate, London. http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/the-origin-of-species-6th-edition/index.html Previous Claim: CC200.1 | List of Claims | Next Claim: C...

Evolutionists claim that conifers are descended from a group of plants called progymnosperms. But there is no evidence that progymnosperms ever existed.

...l. 1999). Creationists can choose to believe that progymnosperms are not transitional forms, but they certainly existed. Links: Arens, N. C., 1998. Progymnosperms. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/IB181/VPL/Osp/Osp2.html Speer, B. R. and Nan Crystal Arens, 1996. Introduction to the progymnosperms...

Meyer-Berthaud, B., S. E. Scheckler and J. Wendt. 1999. Archaeopteris is the earliest known modern tree. Nature 398: 700-701.

Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ Copyright © 1994-1997 by Kathleen Hunt [Last Update: March 17, 1997] I wrote this FAQ as a reference for answering the "there aren't any transitional fossils" statement that pops up on talk.origins several times each year. I...

...: March 17, 1997] I wrote this FAQ as a reference for answering the "there aren't any transitional fossils" statement that pops up on talk.origins several times each year. I've tried to make it an accurate, though highly condensed, summary of known vertebrate fossil history in those lineages that led to familiar modern forms, with the known tra...

...y rewritten, with: A completely rewritten introduction & conclusion, discussing what "transitional" means, why gaps occur, and what the fossil record shows. A greatly expanded list of "chains of genera" for most groups, especially mammals. References for documented species-to-species fossil transitions, mostly for mammals. Explicit mention of t...

...ted and flat and can be flapped), but they have very different underlying structures. transitional form See intermediate form . vestigial characters A vestigial character is reduced and rudimentary compared to the same complex structure in other organisms. Vestigial characters, if functional, perform relatively simple, minor, or inessential fun...

...orphologically intermediate between two different taxa. The existence of intermediate forms is a prediction of common descent. An intermediate is not necessarily a common ancestor or even an actual ancestor of a modern species. For example, the intermediate species Archaeopteryx displays characters definitive of two different taxa (e.g. dromaeo...

...iderably. Should not be confused with "form." A bat and insect wing both have similar forms (e.g. they are both elongated and flat and can be flapped), but they have very different underlying structures. transitional form See intermediate form . vestigial characters A vestigial character is reduced and rudimentary compared to the same complex s...

...on of the historical phylogeny Statistics of incongruent phylogenies Intermediate and transitional forms Reptile-birds Reptile-mammals Ape-humans Legged whales Legged seacows Chronology of common ancestors References Prediction 1.1: The fundamental unity of life " OH JEHOVA, quam ampla sunt opera Tua. " – Carolus Linnaeus at the beginning of Sy...

...torical phylogeny Statistics of incongruent phylogenies Intermediate and transitional forms Reptile-birds Reptile-mammals Ape-humans Legged whales Legged seacows Chronology of common ancestors References Prediction 1.1: The fundamental unity of life " OH JEHOVA, quam ampla sunt opera Tua. " – Carolus Linnaeus at the beginning of Systema Naturae...

...rarchies Convergence of independent phylogenies Statistics of incongruent phylogenies Transitional forms Reptile-birds Reptile-mammals Ape-humans Legged whales Legged seacows Chronology of common ancestors Part 2. Past history Anatomical vestiges Atavisms Whales and dolphins with hindlimbs Humans tails Molecular vestiges Ontogeny and developmen...

...ergence of independent phylogenies Statistics of incongruent phylogenies Transitional forms Reptile-birds Reptile-mammals Ape-humans Legged whales Legged seacows Chronology of common ancestors Part 2. Past history Anatomical vestiges Atavisms Whales and dolphins with hindlimbs Humans tails Molecular vestiges Ontogeny and developmental biology M...

...f spinal columns, ribs, hands, and feet might make these creatures look a little more transitional? The information presented about each skull is a strange blend of reasonable accuracy mixed in with inaccurate statements and wild conjecture. The museum display accurately explains that over 200 Homo erectus individuals have been found. Although...

...rced by the confusion of languages at Babel. The 'Table of Nations', in Genesis 10, informs us of the basic migration patterns." In fact, Genesis 10 does not indicate place names beyond the Middle East: Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, Gaza, and Sheba are named; India, China, Australia, and other points north, south, and east are not. Significant geolog...

...n fossils. Visitors have no opportunity to make real comparisons between fossil human forms, because almost no fossil evidence is depicted. Obvious details are left out, such as the gradual increase in skull size from H. erectus to Neanderthal and H. sapiens . Other basic geological data, such as the depth and relative age of the strata in whic...

...hing that lacked a genetic code, then there must have been a series of organisms with transitional codes, beginning with no code at all. It is at least possible that such organisms could still be alive today. But if common descent is true, then the genetic codes of these organisms would be less complex versions of the modern genetic code and wo...

...n, nothing prevented life from branching and leading separate lineages to higher life forms entirely lacking the known biologic universals. Third, evolutionary loss and replacement processes could prevent biologic universals. If one organism is a distant ancestor to another, then nothing in evolution predicts the two must share similarities. If...

...adualism constrains life from "branching and leading separate lineages to higher life forms entirely lacking the known biologic universals." Of course "distant ancestors and descendants ... can be totally different"—totally different except in the structures that perform the four fundamental functions of life. Common descent does not predict th...

...mory of Tero Sand (1965 - 1996). Most literalist creationists argue that there are no transitional forms (e.g. Morris 1967 , Gish 1979 , 1985 , 1995 ). Cracraft ( 1983 ) suggests that this argument, could well be the paradigm example characterizing the entire creation-evolution controversy for it illustrates how creationists have taken an extre...

...opic. Creationists have adopted three lines of argumentation against the existence of transitional forms: (1) they quote liberally from various paleontologists as to the paucity of transitional forms; (2) they define the concept of "transitional form" in a way that is distinctly different from the evolutionists' use of the term; and (3) they si...

...nal forms: (1) they quote liberally from various paleontologists as to the paucity of transitional forms; (2) they define the concept of "transitional form" in a way that is distinctly different from the evolutionists' use of the term; and (3) they simply deny the existence of intermediate taxa, whilst ignoring the vast scientific literature op...

...; it does not.) Huse offers three reasons why the platypus should not be considered a transitional form: "1. Platypus fossils are exactly the same as modern forms." Since the most important platypus fossils were found after Huse wrote his book in 1983, one can only wonder what fossils he is referring to. It seems unlikely, given the general lev...

...as to the origin and development of the womb or milk glands." The platypus shows its transitional nature here, since the reproductive system is more reptilian than mammalian, while the mammary glands are typically mammalian, except for their large size and the fact that the nipples are non-erectile and covered with hair. Although Huse implies...

...e considered a transitional form: "1. Platypus fossils are exactly the same as modern forms." Since the most important platypus fossils were found after Huse wrote his book in 1983, one can only wonder what fossils he is referring to. It seems unlikely, given the general level of scholarship of his book, that Huse would have known of the few ob...