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The name dinosaur is a recent one. It was invented by the 19th
century scientist, Sir Richard Owen—derived from Greek words meaning
‘terrible lizards.’ In 1770, quarry workers in Maastricht, The
Netherlands, unearthed the first significant fossil, a sizeable jawbone,
although bones had been observed in the limestone for hundreds of years
before. It now lies in the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
Twenty years later, the professional scientist, Georges Cuvier, declared
the bone to be of a big marine reptile, later identified as a mosasaur.
Finds of bones: Dinosaur bones are found all over the world, with
many in the central United States of America. In New Zealand, the bones
are mostly from the marine reptiles, the mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, found
in the sedimentary rocks of the east coasts of the North and South Islands.
Since European times, many bones were taken from New Zealand to
England. Only recently was evidence found, in the North Island, of a
land-inhabiting dinosaur.
When did dinosaurs live?: Scientists committed to the concept of
evolution (and that is most scientists) tell us that the dinosaurs lived from
225 million to 65 million years ago in what the geologists call the
Mesozoic Era, which is further subdivided into the Triassic, Jurassic, and
Cretaceous periods. They also say that dinosaurs died out suddenly, and
that mankind did not evolve until some 70 million years later. They have
no proof for these conclusions, which are speculation, based on the
theoretical (and nowhere found) geological column.
Blood and teeth: Because dinosaurs looked like big lizards, scientists
thought that they were cold-blooded, that is, the temperature of their blood
depended on the temperature of their surroundings. It is now thought that
they had their own distinctive rate of metabolism. The dinosaurs had big,
sharp teeth, so many people think that they ate each other and other
animals. Others say that the teeth were designed for eating vegetation, and
that the teeth of the best-recognnised Tyrannosaurus Rex were so lightly
attached to the jaw that they could not tear flesh without breaking off.
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Guesswork!: Many types of dinosaur have been discovered, even a
flying variety, the pterosaur, but we still don’t really know what they
looked like because even though skin has been found, the colours have
disappeared. So the popular greens and yellows are guesswork, based on
the colours of living reptiles. Recently (April 1998) Italian
palaeontologists put on show the remains of a dinosaur complete with
fossilised intestines. It was found in southern Italy.
Eggs: As a reptile, dinosaurs laid eggs, and many fossilised eggs have
been found, particularly in Central Asia. The eggs fetch a high price, and it
is reported that ‘Jurassic Park’ film director Steven Spielberg owns
some.
Dinosaurs and birds: The latest scientific
theory about dinosaurs is that they evolved into
birds, and clever animations have been created
to show how it might have happened. But again,
there is no evidence for this transition, which is
actually impossible because for evolution to take
place, a large quantity of new genetic
information has to come from somewhere all at
once. Evolutionary scientists resort to the fossil
archaeopteryx as an example of a transitional
type, however, its claws are just like those of
birds that perch in branches, and a close look at
the fine limestone in which it is embedded
reveals feathers. Archaeopteryx is less popular
these days as a transitional type. Incidentally, it
died in agony, with its neck arched back, like so
many other fossilised reptiles. |
Sandy’s photo of a replica of the
archaeopteryx fossil
|
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They are extinct, right?: Many theories abound for the cause of the
dinosaurs’ extinction, from nicotine poisoning to asteroid impact. But
doubt remains as to whether they are really extinct. In the past few years
fragmentary stories of expeditions to Congo in Africa to check sightings of
swamp-dwelling dinosaurs have been published, but without conclusion.
See latest news,
October 2005. Several photographs and films of an
unknown object, which many believe is the famous ‘monster’, taken in
Scotland’s Loch Ness, have similarities with the plesiosaur. Similar
sightings have been made in Norway, Sweden, Ireland Italy and North
America. See the website of the British Columbia Scientific
Cryptozoological Club for details. See also the extensive cryptozoology
website http://members.aol.com/mokele
The Bible as history: If we accept the Bible as history, the book of
Genesis tells that God created dinosaurs along with all the other animals.
On the last day of creation, he created Man. So people and dinosaurs
walked the earth together. Human footprints have been discovered in the
same rock as dinosaur footprints in the USA (two regions) and
Turkmenistan, in South Central Asia (1983). The American prints have
been known for sixty years, but in the early 1980s more prints were
uncovered in front of the media and declared by astonished scientists to be
human. Rock drawings, burial stone carvings, and clay figurines all
indicate that humans lived among dinosaurs and recorded what they saw.
See latest news May 15, 1999
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Dinosaurs saved: The disappearance of the dinosaurs is no mystery if
we accept Genesis as history. It tells of a major global catastrophe, a
devastating flood that we deduce rearranged the geology in a major way,
and changed the atmosphere and climate. The saviour of mankind, Noah,
whom God had warned ahead of time, took on board a huge wooden barge
seven other humans, his family members, and small numbers of all the
distinctive kinds of air-breathing animals, including, presumably, the
major kinds of dinosaurs. After the flood, conditions were too harsh for the
dinosaurs, and they died out. Legends from around the world describe
dinosaur-like animals called dragons being hunted by heroes, including St
George and the Danish king, Beowulf. The flood was a judgment from God
for sin. Another judgment is coming. This time the Saviour will be the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Dinosaurs in the Bible: Read about dinosaurs in the Bible, in the
book of Job between Chapter 40, verse 15 and the end of Chapter 41. The
descriptions do not fit any other living animal.
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