| In 1999 amateur dinosaur enthusiast Stephen Czerkas and the National Geographic Society announced that a fossil purchased for $80000 at an Arizona mineral show was the 'missing link between terrestrial dinosaurs and birds that could actually fly'. This small dinosaur fossil was discovered in the Liaoning Province, China. They called it Archeoraptor liaoningensis. It had the tail of a small theropod and the arms of a primitive bird. The fossil also showed the appearance of feathers. While scientists thought the mix of advanced and primitive features is exactly what they'd expect to find in dinosaurs trying to fly, they were shocked to find the specimen a hoax. A personal collector in China pointed out that the tail was exactly identical to one in his collection. Upon further investigation, it did prove true. The fossil was actually a mixture of different creatures. The specimen consisted of a dinosaur tail glued to the body of a primitive bird. After all the fame and publicity the Archeoraptor received, this find is probably the biggest embarassment in Paleontologic history.
In November of 1999 the article about Archeoraptor was published in National Geographic. This article seemed to be well-supported with comments of paleontologists to give it a solid scientific foundation. However, it turned out to be a great embarassment for all the scientists involved.
The National Geographic article was the last straw in shameless sensationalism for Storrs Olson, Curator of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He wrote:
'National Geographic has reached an all-time low for engaging in sensationalistic, unsubstantiated, tabloid journalism. …'
'it eventually became clear to me that National Geographic was not interested in anything other than the prevailing dogma that birds evolved from dinosaurs. …'
'Sloan’s article takes the prejudice to an entirely new level and consists in large part of unverifiable or undocumented information that ”makes” the news rather than reporting it. …'
'[The feathered dinosaur pictures are] simply imaginary and ha[ve] no place outside of science fiction.'
'The idea of feathered dinosaurs and the theropod origin of birds is being actively promulgated by a cadre of zealous scientists acting in concert with certain editors at Nature and National Geographic who themselves have become outspoken and highly biased proselytizers of the faith. Truth and careful scientific weighing of evidence have been among the first casualties in their program, which is now fast becoming one of the grander scientific hoaxes of our age — the paleontological equivalent of cold fusion.'
Among other things, Dr. Olson, an evolutionist, pointed out:
'None of the structures illustrated in Sloan’s article that are claimed to be feathers have actually been proven to be feathers. Saying that they are is little more than wishful thinking that has been presented as fact.'
‘hollow, hairlike structures characterize protofeathers’ —as:
'nonsense considering that protofeathers exist only as a theoretical construct, so that the internal structure of one is even more hypothetical.'
Just as the need for a missing link between apes and humans led to Piltdown man, so the need for a missing link between dinosaurs and birds paved the way for the 'Piltdown bird'. | 
