Difference between revisions of "Dinosaur"
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In addition, creationists cite the current online World Book Encyclopedia which states: | In addition, creationists cite the current online World Book Encyclopedia which states: | ||
| − | "No fossil of any such birdlike reptile has yet been found." | + | "No fossil of any such birdlike reptile has yet been found." <ref>http://creationwiki.org/Fossil_record_quotes<ref><ref>http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/dinosaurs/creatures_birds</ref> |
==Dinosaurs through Evolutionary Science== | ==Dinosaurs through Evolutionary Science== | ||
Revision as of 17:21, March 20, 2007
The word dinosaur was coined in 1841 by Richard Owen[1], from the Greek for "terrible lizard" (fututor). Dinosaurs were a group of large reptiles that previously lived in abundance on Earth.
Contents
Dinosaurs as viewed through Creationist Scientists
Creationist scientists believe that dinosaurs and man coexisted based on a number of pieces of evidence rather than the evolutionary view that dinosaurs existed millions of years ago. [2]
Humans and Dinosaurs Coexisting
There are a number of lines of evidence that point to dinosaurs and man coexisting. For example, explorers have reported seeing a live dinosaur.[3] A thousand people reported seeing a dinosaur-like monster in two sightings around Sayram Lake in Xinjiang according to the Chinese publication, China Today. [4] An expedition which included Charles W. Gilmore, Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology with the United States National Museum, examined an ancient pictograph which is claimed to portray dinosaurs and man coexisting.[5][6]. The World Book Encyclopedia states that: "The dragons of legend are strangely like actual creatures that have lived in the past. They are much like the great reptiles [dinosaurs] which inhabited the earth long before man is supposed to have appeared on earth. Dragons were generally evil and destructive. Every country had them in its mythology." [7] The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina, a second century piece of art, is said to appear to be a piece of artwork that shows a dinosaur and man coexisting. [8] Creationist scientist also see the recent dinosaur soft tissue find a strong rebuttal of the claim that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. [9]
Since 565 A.D. there are reports about the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie by birth), a large Monster living in Loch Ness, near Inverness, Scotland. People who saw Nessie described the Monster as it would look similar to a dinosaur. In the life story of St. Columba, there is an account of him driving off a monster attacking a Pict. Some have taken this to refer to the Loch Ness Monster
An alternate theory for the inclusion of dinosaurs within many cultures is the existence of fossils. Ancient people, unaware that the ancient fossils uncovered by erosion were of extinct animals, attributed the bones to living, magical creatures. This would explain the importance of dragons in Chinese culture - there are a large number of dinosaur (as well as non-dinosaur) fossils to be found in China [10].
Dinosaurs and Creationism
Some Christians reject the Theory of Evolution and the current science community consensus of the age of the earth. Of those Christians who reject evolution, the Young Earth Creationists believe, based primarily on Biblical sources, but also drawing on archeological and fossil evidence, that dinosaurs were created on the 6th day of the Creation Week[11] as a final addendum to the wonders God created, approximately 6,000 years ago; that they lived in the Garden of Eden in harmony with other animals, eating only plants[12]; that pairs of various dinosaurs were taken onto Noah's Ark during the Great Flood and were preserved from drowning[13]; that fossilized dinosaur bones originated during the mass killing of the Flood[14]; and that some descendants of those dinosaurs taken aboard the Ark still roam the earth today.[15]
Because the term only came into use in the 19th century, the Bible obviously does not use the word "dinosaur." However, they are alleged to be mentioned in numerous places throughout the biblical account. For example, the behemoth in Job and the leviathan in Isaiah are sometimes said to be references to dinosaurs,[16] [17], although some reject this view, saying that behemoth was a hippopotamus and leviathan was a crocodile. There is a problem with this view, however, such as the fact that a hippo doesn't have a "tail like a cedar" and a crocodile does not accurately match the description of leviathan.
Creationist scientists reject the "Great Impact Theory" that a meteor struck the earth and caused climatic changes which caused the extinction of dinosaurs and claim there are multiple problems evidentially with this theory. [18]
Creationists scientists also contend that birds being descendants of dinosaurs goes against present science and also is not scientifically supported with any evidence. [19]
Creationists also cite the evolutionist Ernst Mayr who in 1942 stated the following:
“It must be admitted, however, that it is a considerable strain on one’s credulity to assume that finely balanced systems such as certain sense organs (the eye of vertebrates, or the bird’s feather) could be improved by random mutations." [20]
In addition, creationists cite the current online World Book Encyclopedia which states:
"No fossil of any such birdlike reptile has yet been found." Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Dinosaurs through Evolutionary Science
Extinction
According to evolutionary scientists, close to 65 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, and the beginning of what we call the Tertiary period, an event occurred which has come to be known as the K-T Event. Evolutionary scientists claim this event obliterated most life on Earth, plunging the world into something that would now be likened to global nuclear winter, through which few extant species could survive. Although scientists dispute the nature of the K-T Event (selecting among any number of catastrophes that could have caused the significant global cooling that resulted), most find that the claimed K-T Event was caused by the collision of a massive asteroid with the Earth, the dust and debris from which shrouded the sky for thousands of years, cooling Earth considerably.[21] According to evolutionary scientists, the dinosaurs did not survive this cataclysm.[22] Evolutionary scientists claim that evidence of the dust that caused this long winter is still visible, though, as a line of metal of extraterrestrial origin is often visible in sediment worldwide, occurring as a result of the vaporization and then fall of dust from the meteorite's impact, and its compression within the subsequent geological record.[23] The crater is also visible.[24]
Cambrian Life Explosion
According to evolutionary scientists, the extinction of the dinosaurs removed a major food competitor, and predator, of smaller animals. These scientists claim that as a result of a new "vacancy" in the food chain, following the K-T Event, vast speciation occurred, as the evolutionary pressure of a new cold age propelled animal species to adapt or die out. According to evolutionary scientists, what we now know as mammals were some of the main beneficiaries of this explosion: their fur allowed them to adapt to the cold, and their small size allowed them to conserve energy relative to the huge dinosaurs of the previous age.[25]
Dinosaurs and Birds
As a number of feathered dinosaur fossils have been discovered, and the similarity in the bone structure between birds and dinosaurs, evolutionary scientists contend that modern birds are a descendant of dinosaurs. This is cited as an example of macroevolution.[26]
Dinosaur Speciation
Dinosaur species were immensely varied, from herbivores to carnivores. Although many have been found in the fossil record, paleontologists expect that they have barely scratched the surface of the vast genus that the dinosaurs encompassed.[27]
References
- ↑ http://www.trueauthority.com/dinosaurs/about.htm
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/dinosaurs.asp
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v15/i4/dinosaurs.asp
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v15/i4/dinosaurs.asp
- ↑ http://www.creationism.org/swift/DohenyExpedition/Doheny01Main.htm
- ↑ http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/the_hava_supai_dinosaur_carving
- ↑ http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/FAQ25.html
- ↑ http://www.s8int.com/dinolit2.html
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0325Dino_tissue.asp
- ↑ http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CH/CH712.html
- ↑ Genesis, 1:25
- ↑ Genesis 1:29-30
- ↑ "Were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark?", Answers in Genesis
- ↑ "Dinosaur bones—just how old are they really?", Creation 21(1):54–55, December 1998
- ↑ "Are dinosaurs alive today?", Creation 15(4):12–15, September 1993
- ↑ "Could Behemoth have been a dinosaur?", TJ 15(2):42–45, August 2001
- ↑ http://www.answersincreation.org/job4041a.htm
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/docs/dino_meteor.asp
- ↑ http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/re1/chapter4.asp
- ↑ http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/ReferencesandNotes10.html
- ↑ Kevin O Pope, "Meteorite impact and the mass extinction of species at the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, available at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/95/19/11028
- ↑ National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0823_020823_asteroid.html
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0307_030307_impactcrater.html
- ↑ Bennet, Shostak, Jakotsky, "Life in the Universe," viewable at http://www.amazon.com/Life-Universe-Jeffrey-Bennett/dp/0805385770
- ↑ National Geographic, "New Dinosaur Discovered: T-Rex Cousin Had Feathers," http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1006_041006_feathery_dino.html
- ↑ National Geographic, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060905-dinosaurs_2.html
