Some scientists take issue with the birds-descended-from-dinosaur theory. I hadn’t heard about these doubts until now – I thought the theory that birds had descended from dinos was pretty firm. Apparently not:
My favorite – “Bambisuarus”. What an image that conjures up!
Actually, Feduccia has been grinding his “birds are not dinosaurs” axe for decades. There are only a handful of other paleontologists who still agree with him. The many fossils of feathered dinosaurs discovered in China in the last few years have pretty much convinced the last holdouts. Feduccia is a pretty respected paleontologist in general, but on this one issue he has become a crank.
The best argument against the bird-dinosaur connection is the one they mention concerning the origin of the digits of the hand. However, there are so many other arguments in its favor that the alternative explanation offered by the bird/dinosaur supporters has to be considered to be likely.
It’s been brought up at least a couple times previously right here on this board!
The first of those links discusses the possibility of the bird-dino link, not objections. The latter has one entry on the objections.
Not surprised I missed it.