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At a conference in Bavaria in September 1984, this view was put forth as one of the possible paths of bird evolution. The textbook Understanding Biology through Evolution by Bruce Olsen calls crocodiles and birds “cousins” and claims that both evolved through the archosaur (“ruling lizard”).
Though attempts have been made to describe how a crocodile could become a bird, even the most ardent evolutionists have to admit that they “cannot as yet offer any plausible explanation for the origin of the unique shaft, barbs, and barbules without which modern feathers would have neither aerodynamic nor insulatory function” (Regal, The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1975, p. 35).
That could be the mother of all understatements! In the new apologetics course “An Unshakeable Faith” we consider some of the amazing physical changes that would be necessary for a dinosaur of any type to evolve into a bird.
At the genetic level, there are billions of things that would have to change to turn a crocodile into a bird. As the biochemist Dr. Duane Gish observes, “What makes such stories or scenarios so incredible is the belief of evolutionists that whatever is needed will be produced by genetic change or mutations, which are totally random with no particular end in view” (Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No, p. 104).
Further, what motivation could a crocodile have in becoming a bird? He is already perfectly adapted (one could even say “designed”) for his earth-bound environment.
Was he discontented? Did he have a secret wish to fly? Where would such a strange impulse come from? If it were an outside force that moved him in that direction, what was that force? Blind evolution? The “law” of natural selection? Aliens? Gaia? Magic?
And all along the evolutionary trail from croc to bird, if this actually happened, the poor croco-bird would have developed things that would be of no use to him in his natural environment, and would, in fact, have been absolute hindrances. I am thinking of things such as a half wing. Try running around with half a wing hanging from your side! Try building a crocodile nest with little bird feet! Try breathing when your breathing apparatus has begun to morph into a completely different system!
And let’s suppose that somehow and for some reason the crocodile developed every necessary part of the flying equipment and survived the torturous path of existing as a part-croc, part-bird, who would teach him how to fly? There would have been no birds to imitate, because this fellow was supposedly the first bird. How many attempts would the croco-bird have to make before he got airborne? Maybe he climbed a tall tree (a crocodile that can learn to fly can doubtless climb a tree) and practiced gliding for a while in order to get the hang of it. Why would a crocodile want to jump out of a tree? Why didn’t it hurt itself and just quit such nonsense long before anything productive happened? Sooner or later the croco-bird had to have taken off on his own. Maybe he found an incline and ran as fast as his little croco-bird feet could go and got airborne that way, kind of like the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. Just what was that first croco-bird flight like? Wouldn’t it have been something to see!
Once the croco-bird got off the ground, what would he do? Would a flying crocodile be afraid of height?
Evolutionists would argue, perhaps, that they don’t believe that birds evolved from a modern crocodile but from an extinct kind. O.K. Take any old type of crocodile you want, big or small, terrestrial or aquatic, and the scenario is the same.
No wonder science fiction has been so closely associated with evolution. (See the report “Beware of Science Fiction” at the Way of Life web site.)
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