National Geographic October 2000 reveals all (well, maybe some) about the Archaeraptor scam. Independent investigator L. M. Simons was commissioned by National Geographic editor, Bill Allen to find out how they were taken in by a fraudulent missing link which National Geographic proclaimed in November 1999 as “a true missing link in the complex chain that connects dinosaurs to birds”. Simons writes, October 2000 p.128, “It’s a tale of misguided secrecy and misplaced confidence, of rampant egos clashing, self aggrandizement, wishful thinking, naive assumptions, human error, stubbornness, manipulation, backbiting, lying, corruption and most of all abysmal communication”.
Editorial Comment: When will National Geographic be brave enough to do the same to Lucy with her imported knee bone, and mechanically altered pelvis. Full marks to Bill Allen for going this far – but he’s got a long way to go before National Geographic actually tells the truth. (Ref. Archaeoraptor, dinosaurs, birds, fraud)