Creationist Museum Lies About Archaeopteryx

I was going to write a lengthy critique of the blatantly dishonest portrayal of Archaeoptery at the Creation Museum. But, I got tired of it, and it ended up just sitting there and stagnating for month after month. So, I decided to post a short “Cliff’s Notes” version of the original even though the whole Creation Museum thing is old news.

The Creation Museum had a model of a life restoration of Archaeopteryx present in their Garden of Eden exhibit where they deliberately reconstructed its anatomy inaccurately to make it look much more like a modern bird than it actually would have. The following is a list of just a few of the ommissions and alterations of Archaeopteryx‘s anatomy present in their model:

Its reptillian jaws were replaced with a beak.

Its teeth were removed.

The place where the neck joins the skull was changed, removing Archaeopteryx‘s nice, S-shaped theropod-like neck.

It was given a keeled breast, making its flight muscles look much bigger (and less primitive).

Its legs were shortened to make them look less like a predatory dinosaur’s.

Archaeopteryx‘s hyper extensible toe (think Velociraptor‘s big claw) was removed.

Archaeopteryx‘s long dinosaurian tail was shorted drastically.

Lastly, and most absurdly: Archaeopteryx was given the same plumage coloration as a modern pidgeon!

The items on this list, of course, make the claim touted by many creationists that Archaeopteryx was “fully a bird” (instead of a transitional form) seem much more believeable to someone not familiar with the animal’s anatomy.But as someone who is somewhat familiar with Archaeopteryx, I have to just say “Wow.” This level of dishonesty is a new low even for creationists.

Maybe AiG or the sculptor of the model could claim the anatomical inaccuracies were a mistake. That would be convenient, though, as lots of creationist “mistakes” seem to “accidentally” lend support to creationism. More on the Creation Museum’s treatment of Archaeopteryx can be found here.