The story of Archaeopteryx
South Germany (1861)
Two years ago, in 1859, Charles Darwin published his famous book, The Origin of Species through Natural Selection. But one thing that troubled Darwin and his peers was the lack of lost links between existing species. In his book, Darwin openly stated that if the missing links were not found, my theory would be completely useless. About 19 years ago, in 1842, the world first came to know that there were giant dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago. Darwin was hopeful that he would find something He was able to strengthen his ideology.
Eric Hermann, a geologist, was very serious about the evolution of species through natural selection. But he also, like Darwin, thought that the theory would not last long because of the absence of missing links. Under these circumstances, there was an urgent need for evidence that would support Darwin’s views.
Eric Hermann and his team were exploring fossils in Bavaria, southern Germany, in those days. Meanwhile, his team found the remains of a small dinosaur or lizard. Such fossils have already been found in different areas. Apparently a study of this fossil showed that it was an ancient reptile. Eric Herman and one of his colleagues developed a curious interest in this fossil and took it to their personal laboratory before exposing it to the world.
A few days later, this fossil was presented to the world. Scientists considered it as an insignificant fossil like ordinary fossils because it was a normal reptile fossil. It was then that Eric Herman drew the attention of some of his colleagues to the very fine marks. These marks suggest that they may be like the wings of a bird. From here, it is hidden in the minds of many scientists that this is not a lost link. If so, it was a great discovery in their eyes. This fossil has been studied over and over again, confirming that there are traces of feathers. But this did not prove that the wings of this wing are the wings of the same fossil creature. But who could pay attention to it with such joy. The wings have been shown solely to give a sense of proportion.
New York (1985)
In the 1980’s, scientists in New York debated whether Archeopteryx could fly. A detailed study of the fossils of Archeopteryx revealed that it had no characteristics other than that of birds. Scientists were in a dilemma as to how this could happen. Meanwhile, some scientists have decided to re-examine the fossils of Archeopteryx in detail. When they studied it in detail, it became clear that someone had very cleverly pasted the fin wings on this fossil. You can read the thoughts of these scientists here.
Linnaeus University, China (2011)
In 2011, Xiang Zhou, a professor at Lenin University in China, found another fossil similar to Archeopteryx. There were so many similarities between this fossil and the fossils of Archeopteryx that both seemed to be the same fossil. The only difference was that the new fossil had no wings. The new fossil was scientifically named Xiaotingia zhengi.
After studying Archeopteryx and this new fossil, Xiang Zhou concluded that Archeopteryx could in no way be the ancestor of birds because Archeopteryx and existing birds had nothing in common except the wings of birds. Xiang Zhou concluded that archeopteryx, whatever it may be, could in no way be associated with birds. You can read more about it here.