Well, hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! We're less than a month out from the release of Jurassic World! I can't wait! To celebrate, I've got lots of dinosaur-related articles coming up, including today's article! Let's get started with...
Days till:
It is: 10 days till Memorial Day
It is: 27 days till Jurassic World's release!
It is: 34 days till Inside Out's release
In the Spotlight: Universal Studios literally dumped us with Jurassic World TV spots this past week! And I mean DUMPED! Check them out below:
There's so much in each of these TV spots that I really don't where to start! Personally though, I think one of my favorites are the seventh and the eighth ones. I love that shot where the kid hugs the baby Apatosaurus' neck in our first look at the park's Gentle Giants Petting Zoo and those gyrosphere scenes where the gyrosphere balls ride past herds of Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus and Stegosaurus are stunning.
That's not all, folks! Also released this week was this clip from the Masrani viral website featuring Dr. Henry Wu as he and other InGen employees talk about the latest technological updates at InGen:
And last but not least, we've also got this cool new trailer for the LegoJurassic World game featuring shots and dinosaurs (and a few pterosaurs and a Mosasaurus!) from all four movies:
Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan
Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most famous extinct animals of all time.
The geologic column, consists of many rock layers – some rock layers are thick, some are thin. Evolutionists claim that these rock layers represent the entire history of life the earth in time periods, which started 3.5 billion years ago. Now there are several problems with interpreting the geologic column, and the fossil record itself – as the entire history of life on earth over a period of millions of years. Radiometric dating and other commonly used dating methods are flawed due to several unverifiable assumptions. In addition to these problems, there are several reasons to suggest that the earth's fossils aren't nearly as old as evolutionists believe them to be (e.g. soft dinosaur tissue and bent rock layers). Is there another way to interpret the fossil record? In fact, there is. The Bible is the inspired Word of God Himself, the only individual who was there before the beginning of time. Since He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), we can use His word to develop a worldview – a Biblical, or creation, worldview to look at the evidence we see in the rock layers. This three-part series will take a look at the fossil record through a creation worldview and showcase just how amazing the geological history of our earth was!
In part 1 of this series, we used the Bible as our “worldview glasses” to learn that most layers of the fossil record represent ancient ecosystems that were spread widely across the pre-Flood supercontinent called Rodinia. But something changed; some event caused the world to become like the one we know today. What happened? First, let's look at how evolutionists view the fossil record and how the animals in it died, buried and were fossilized. Standard evolutionists believe in uniformitarianism; this is the belief that present day processes are responsible for killing and burying billions of organisms in rock. In other words, evolutionists believe the present is the key to the past. Typically, the story goes that a now-dead creature – we'll use a dinosaur in this example – just so happened to die near a water source. Then before scavengers could consume it and before it could rot, the water rose and gently covered its body with silt. While evolutionists allow for an occasional catastrophe to account for some fossils, this is typically not the case.
When most animals die, like the Baryonyxabove, they don't simply lie around waiting to fossilize. They must be buried quickly, or they will be eaten by scavengers or rot away.
There are several problems with uniformitarianism. If present day processes are responsible for the fossil record, then why don't we see animals often being buried and fossilized today? Millions of bison once roamed the American plains. Do we find millions of bison fossils, or even bones? Nope. Typically, animals (especially aquatic ones, which actually make up most of the fossil record) will rot, become eaten by scavengers or will be destroyed by other means in the environment. They do not usually become buried and fossilized. So how do we account for what we see in the fossil record?
This horse carcass will definitely not become a fossil!
Well, as usual, using the Bible can help us interpret the evidence from the past. Now in the book of Genesis (the first book in the Bible), it records a catastrophic event known as the Genesis Flood. Now this Flood was sent upon the earth by God because the planet had become full of wicked sin. But there was one God-fearing family left: Noah's. Because Noah still honored God, God told him to construct a giant ark to survive the coming Flood. The ark was to be about 510 feet long, 45 feet wide and 75 feet high (quite unlike the bathtub-like Noah's ark often seen in children's books). Also taken on board the ark were two of every kind of terrestrial, air-breathing “unclean” animal and seven or seven pairs of “clean” animals. Only those animals (probably only around 2,000 in all), Noah's family of eight, several insects and their eggs (likely unaccounted for on the ark), and several aquatic creatures survived the Flood. Everything else outside that ark perished. What happened during the Flood is something you'll be unlikely to hear from your typical Bible-story book.
The REAL Noah's ark didn't look anything like this bathtub-like, cute, tiny, poor-excuse-for-an-ark boat! The real ark was HUGE, about 510 feet long!
It was a usual day in the pre-Flood world, 4,350 years ago, 1,650 years after Creation – Noah, his family and the animals were safely in the ark, dinosaurs, gorgonopsids and Lystrosaurus (among other creatures) roamed the earth while pterosaurs soared through the skies; strange and monstrous reptiles ruled the sea. Had you been around, what sights would you have seen as the Flood began? Let's look at the geologic column. Some creation geologists believe that the Flood might have been triggered by one or more massive meteor impacts. Many meteors hit the earth during the Flood. One of the meteors that might have been responsible is located in South Australia. Called the Acraman impact crater, it is 56 miles wide and was caused by a 2.5-mile-wide asteroid that struck the earth. How could this have triggered the Flood? Allow me to explain further.
Asteroid impacts, such as the one that made the Acraman crater, might have triggered the Flood.
We don't know if asteroids caused the Genesis Flood, but they definitely hit the earth around this time. What happened next was even more catastrophic. Genesis records several of the things that were occurring at this time:
“In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” Genesis 7:11.
Creation geologists believe that the “springs of the great deep” mentioned in the verse above resulted from the breakup of the earth's crust. These catastrophic movements caused great multitudes of hot water from underneath the earth's crust (some of these subterranean bodies of water seem to still exist today) spewed out into the ocean, along with molten rock. Much of the hot water turned to steam and was ejected high into the earth's pre-Flood atmosphere. The steam rose where it collected into rain clouds and...yes, you guessed it, it rained a lot! See, contrary to popular belief, most of the water from's Noah's Flood likely did not come from rain clouds initially, but from underneath the earth's crust. The waters continued to rise, causing massive destruction and chaos over the entire planet.
Imagine what it would have been like to see a 2.5-mile-wide asteroid heading toward the earth!
The Genesis Flood was the most catastrophic event in the history of life on earth. It destroyed the face of the earth as people of the time knew it. Even the continents themselves were realigned. The supercontinent, Rodinia, broke up early in the Flood. Later during the Flood, the continents realigned into the supercontinent of Pangaea before finally breaking apart again into the seven continents we know today. Such massive geological movements would have stirred much volcanic activity and giant tsunamis across the globe (all this in addition to meteor impacts during the Flood!). While the continuous rain only lasted 40 days, the water continued to rise (fed by water sources underneath the earth's crust) for a total of 150 days. By the end of that time, the entire globe was covered.
The supercontinent of Rodinia broke up during the Flood, reformed into the continent of Pangaea before again breaking apart to form the seven continents we know today.
So how is the fossil record explained by the Flood? Rather than portraying the billion-years-long history of life on earth, most of the fossil record can easily be seen as an order of burial during the great Flood. As the watery carnage continued to progress higher and higher, ecosystem after ecosystem was destroyed and buried in rock layers (Cambrian-Cretaceous). Now, let's take a closer look at what was happening during this chaotic time, as if we were eyewitnesses to this event.
Cambrian Seas (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian)
Countless numbers of trilobites and other Cambrian animals perished in the floodwaters.
4,350 years ago, the chaos of the Flood began in the water itself. As the earth's crust split apart, there would have no doubt been great earthquakes. These earthquakes caused the edges of the continental plates to collapse, and with them, organisms existing in the Cambrian seas, especially those along the sea floor. They would be deposited rapidly in the sediment. This would account for the necessary rapid burial of loads of sea creatures, such as trilobites, Anomalocaris and even soft-bodied creatures, such as jellyfish.
Lacking bones, jellyfish must be buried extremely quickly in order to fossilize, yet we find many jellyfish fossils in the fossil record.
This would also explain why we find footprints of trilobites before we find trilobite fossils. As the edge of the continental shelf collapsed, trilobites and other animals would try desperately to scuttle away to safety, in vain. As they tired, they were deposited in the Cambrian sediments. Many trilobites have also been discovered curled up into tight balls, as if they had tried to protect themselves from the carnage. Habitat after habitat was carried out to sea and buried. But the Flood's destruction didn't stop here.
Trilobite have been found curled up; they had tried to protect themselves before becoming catastrophically buried.
Meganeura and other Carboniferous plants and animals have been discovered.
As the Flood progressed, the Carboniferous Floating Forests felt a watery wrath. Tidal waves would have ripped apart the vegetation mats that supported these great Carboniferous forests. Smaller plants along the edges were buried before the larger trees. This explains why there is a progression in the fossil record from smaller plants to larger plants. The animals in these forests also met their demise as the vegetation mats broke apart.
As they floated in the water, trees in the Carboniferous ex-Floating Forest lost their outer bark, became waterlogged and eventually sank vertically toward the ocean floor. This is why we have polystrate fossils of these trees in the fossil record – that is, tree trunks going through several different rock layers. Vegetation from these forests is responsible for providing our fossil fuels today.
The home of the 6-10-foot long Arthropleura is used as fossil fuels today!
Permian Sandy Coasts (Permian, Triassic?)
Lystrosaurus fossils show they were once widespread on the planet.
The Permian and Triassic coastline was next to be affected by the Flood. Waves of destruction laid waste to these habitats. Animals such as Lystrosaurus and Dimetrodon were dragged out toward the sea and deposited in thick layers of sandstone. The Flood preserved many creatures rather exquisitely; small gopher-like reptiles called Diictodon – one of the most common Permian reptiles – have been discovered in the burrows they lived in before the Flood. The animals probably retreated into these burrows, hoping to escape the Flood. Instead, they only sealed their own fate; these creatures were killed as water flowed into their burrows, drowning them.
This pair of Diictodon died in their burrow some 4,350 years ago.
Diictodon seemed to have lived in pairs that shared a single burrow.
Inland Environments (Jurassic, Cretaceous) and BEDS Hypothesis
This characteristic death pose is common in many dinosaur skeletons.
Now we have reached the inland ecosystems, where dinosaurs and other Mesozoic creatures roam. As the waters rose, one environment after another was destroyed and buried. The waters of the flood moved very quickly at times, allowing for exquisite preservation of many fossil creatures. One such find is of a small herbivore called Protoceratops and the turkey-sized predator called Velociraptor. One fossil discovery made in the 1970's is of these two animals locked in a deadly fight for 4,350 years. The animals must have been rapidly buried, otherwise, I'm quite sure they would have fled the danger. Another fascinating find is of an Oviraptor brooding her nest of eggs. She was crouched over them, attempting to protect them from the flood waters before she and her nest were buried.
This Oviraptor died atop her nest; she spread her arms over her eggs in a vain attempt to protect them.
The rising flood waters is also a wonderful explanation for the existence of marine organisms high upland. Fossils of sea shells, for example, have been discovered high in places like the Himalayas. It is also an explanation for massive fossil graveyards, such as herds of animals that died and were buried together.
Huge herds of Centrosaurus have been found, evidence for a devastating Flood.
Some dinosaurs managed to survive for sometime during the Flood. After the 40-day mark, the rain stopped pouring continuously and, though it was still on the rise, the water was affected by the tides. As the water level temporarily went down in some areas, large plots of land, covered in freshly-lain sediments, were uncovered. Dinosaurs that have managed to stay afloat in the water by swimming made their way to these sandbanks. Here is where dinosaurs would have quenched their hunger (even killing other dinosaurs or scavenging for food), laid their eggs and made footprints. Then, as the tides moved in, eggs and nests, dinosaur carcasses and footprints were covered with sediment for fossilization.
Dinosaurs like Velociraptor likely survived part of the Flood via sandbanks that were made available as the tide temporarily dropped.
Once again, we can look to the book of Genesis to see what occurred next:
“The waters receded steadily from the earth...” Genesis 8:3a.
The entire earth was covered by water by the 150th day. No more sandbanks would have been available for swimming dinosaurs, so they too would eventually drowned. As the Apostle Peter states in 2 Peter 3:5-6: “...the world that then existed perished, being flooded by water.” However, God protected Noah and the ark's other occupants through the entire event so that they could once again live in the world after the flood waters receded to a sufficient level. Soon after the waters began to go down, we know plant life already had begun to recolonize the earth (remember the dove Noah sent out of the ark brought back a freshly-picked olive leaf in Genesis 8:11).
Olive trees were growing even before the Flood ended, as the water began to recede.
Finally, after being cooped up in the ark for over a year, God allowed Noah, his family and the animals to go forth into a new world. But this earth was not the same one they had left – the climate, the terrain and even the face of the earth itself had been changed by the Flood. Before the Flood, the Rocky Mountains, the Himalayas, the Grant Canyon and other incredible geologic structures did not exist; they were formed during the catastrophic Flood.
It is thanks to the Flood that we have places like the Grand Canyon.
We've explored what the pre-Flood world was like, and how this world was catastrophically destroyed by the Genesis Flood, the most devastating event in the history of the planet. But is this where our adventure ends? Not by a long shot! The world after the Flood was still quite different from the world we now know. In fact, we have evidence of massive volcanic eruptions, bizarre variations of different kinds of animals, colossal floods and even an Ice Age, all after the Flood.
Dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus would have had great difficulty finding enough food in the post-Flood world, leading up to the extinction of them and the other dinosaurs.
In the final part of this series, we will explore the amazing world after the Flood – the post-Flood world!
Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.
I really enjoy all the new footage from Jurassic World that's been showing lately, because otherwise, right about now, my life's kind of boring. LOL. In other news, Mother's Day is just around the corner. Time flies! I don't know if my family is doing something special to celebrate; hopefully we will, but, like I said before, my life's kind of boring right now. Without further ado...
Days till:
It is: 2 days till Mother's Day
It is: 17 days till Memorial Day
It is: 34 days till Jurassic World's opens!
It is: 41 days till Inside Out's release!
In the Spotlight:
Wow! I can't believe that Jurassic World is only just over a month away! After all these years of waiting, waiting a month is going to be a piece of cake. Being so close to the release of the film is so unreal for me. I'm excited!
I love the flood of new footage we're getting from the film. It's coming so fast, I'm literally having a hard time keeping up to date! In any case, this first clip is from a Barbasol commercial advertising Jurassic World-related merchandise. It doesn't feature much, but it does show Owen and Claire trying to escape a flock of Pteranodon and Dimorphodon.
This next video is the latest TV spot that was just released, and it's awesome! It shows loads of new footage, including a dinosaur never before seen in Jurassic World footage. See if you can spot it:
In case you didn't see it, a new dinosaur has made an appearance in the stampede scene: Parasaurolophus! Parasaurolophus is a Cretaceous hadrosaur with a long crest extending from the back of its head. I'm really glad they decided to keep this dinosaur in the movie because it's already been in the previous three. Why break the trend? Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan
The geologic column consists of many rock layers, each with unique sets of animals and plants. How they are interpreted can tell us a lot about the world of our past.
The geologic column, consists of many rock layers – some rock layers are thick, some are thin. Evolutionists claim that these rock layers represent the entire history of life the earth in time periods, which started 3.5 billion years ago. Now there are several problems with interpreting the geologic column, and the fossil record itself – as the entire history of life on earth over a period of millions of years. Radiometric dating and other commonly used dating methods are flawed due to several unverifiable assumptions. In addition to these problems, there are several reasons to suggest that the earth's fossils aren't nearly as old as evolutionists believe them to be (e.g. soft dinosaur tissue and bent rock layers). Is there another way to interpret the fossil record? In fact, there is. The Bible is the inspired Word of God Himself, the only individual who was there before the beginning of time. Since He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19), we can use His word to develop a worldview – a Biblical, or creation, worldview to look at the evidence we see in the rock layers. This three-part series will take a look at the fossil record through a creation worldview and showcase just how amazing the geological history of our earth was!
Fossils come in many shapes and sizes. This trilobite is a fine example.
Firstly, allow me to explain further what the fossil record actually is. The fossil record is split into three main chunks – the oldest, the Paleozoic (meaning “Ancient Life”), the Mesozoic (meaning “Middle Life), and the youngest, the Cenozoic (meaning 'New Life'). And within these three main rock layers are several smaller ones. Within the Paleozoic are: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous and the Permian; the Mesozoic consists of: the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous; and the Cenozoic consists of: the Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene and the Holocene. Due to evolutionists using the fossil record as “proof” for their theory, some creationists have put forth the claim that the fossil record, and sometimes even its fossils, simply do not exist. This approach is unscientific and, in some cases, lazy. In fact, in places like the Grand Canyon, we can see many of the layers of the geologic column, one on top of the other. There are specific sets of creatures and plants unique to each layer. (E.g. T. rex is unique to upper Cretaceous rock layers) The general order of the fossil record can clearly be seen not only here, but in various parts of the planet.
The history of life on earth as commonly portrayed in evolutionary science textbooks.
Now how do we present the evidence we see in the fossil record through a Biblical worldview? Well, the book of Genesis records that God created the world only 6,000 years ago or so. When God originally created the world, and all those living in it, it was without sin, death, sickness and suffering. Around 1,650 years later, Genesis also records that the earth as people once knew it was destroyed by a global flood – the only survivors were some sea creatures, Noah and his family, two of every kind of air-breathing terrestrial “unclean” animal and seven or 14 of every “clean” animal; they all survived on the enormous ark God instructed Noah to construct. What does all this have to do with rock layers and the fossil record?
What types of strange animals and plants would you have seen in the past?
Well, as creationist Ken Ham often states, the fossil record is made up of “billions of dead things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water, all over the earth”. These water-buried now-fossilized remains of plants and animals are found all over the earth and on every continent (including Antarctica), implying that they were all covered by water at some point...sounding familiar? There was only one event that caused the entire planet to be covered by water: the Genesis Flood! Therefore, the Genesis Flood was what buried these fossilized animals and plants! Remember when I said before that each rock layer consists of a unique set of plants and animals? Well, each of these “unique sets” seems to best represent ecosystems and environments that would have covered the earth before the Flood. By looking at rock layers that formed during the Flood, we can learn a great deal about what the world was like in this pre-Flood world (which is one of my favorite time periods in history).
The fossil record actually represents various different ecosystems that once existed on earth, most of them before Noah's Flood.
What was this pre-Flood world like? Well, one thing we know for sure is that it was vastly different from today! While it doesn't provide much information about climates or global temperatures, scripture offers several clues. Genesis 1:9 relays the events that occurred 6,000 years ago, on the third day of the Creation week: “And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so.” Clearly, the Bible tells us that the water was in one place, if this is the case, then the land must also be in one place. Interestingly enough, geological evidence seems to suggest that there weren't seven continents like there are today. Instead, there was only one supercontinent called Rodinia (not Pangaea, which we'll get to in part 2); even all mushed together, the continents were not anywhere close to their present positions. For example, if you were to look out over what would later become the western coast of North America, you'd likely be able to see Eastern Antarctica or Australia!
Before the Flood, the earth was made up of one supercontinent, called Rodinia.
We find fossils from the Flood we find – which represented the world before it was covered by water – indicate that the climate was different on Rodinia as well. Rich coal deposits can be found in the ground from pole to pole. Contrary to popular belief, we don't get coal and other fossil fuels from dinosaurs; it actually comes from ancient plant life. These plants of all different types once grew over the entire earth. We even find fossils of tropical plants in more northern regions; for example, palm trees have been discovered in Montana and wood has been discovered in Antarctica. The pre-Flood wasn't anything like the present one!
Fossils and coal deposits show that the pre-Flood world was mostly lush and tropical.
So what about the fossil record? How does it help us understand what the pre-Flood world was like? Well, you will remember that earlier I explained how the fossil record is contained within rock layers. Each rock layer contains a specific set of creatures and plants, so most creation geologists and paleontologists believe that these layers represent ancient ecosystems (with smaller ecosystems found in different places in each main environment). These extinct habitats and their residents were quite incredible. If you had the power to travel to this pre-Flood time period, what would you have seen? Let's take a look at these environments and the creatures that lived in them.
Cambrian Seas (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian)
The Cambrian Seas were located near the edges of the pre-Flood continental shelves. Here, a myriad of different animals made their home. (IMAGE CREDITS)
The Cambrian Seas were located near the edge of the continental shelves. It hosted elaborate reefs made up of corals that provided homes and hiding places were a lot of the animals living here. This habitat consisted of a myriad of strange creatures, some of which – like sea urchins, sponges and jellyfish – are still around today. Along with familiar creatures, there would have also been several that were not easily recognized, like trilobites. There were over 10,000 species of these armored arthropods; they resemble modern woodlice, but they could grow anywhere between a few millimeters and three feet in length!
Trilobites were some of the most common creatures in the Cambrian seas.
Trilobites were fed upon by even stranger creatures, like Anomalocaris. Anomalocaris was a species of arthropod about three feet in length with large, compound eyes and two flexible arms that they used to grasp prey. Nothing like it is around today.
Anomalocaris was one of the Cambrian's predators. It had two arms for grasping prey and pulling it toward its mouth.
If you moved closer and closer toward the land, you would notice a habitat change. In addition to trilobites, you would have also seen strange creatures like the eurypterids, also known as sea scorpions. Sea scorpions are unrelated to modern scorpions, and they lack a stinger. However, they still had a pair of pincers for self defense and the capture of prey. There were many different species of sea scorpions. One of the largest was Pterygotus, which grew eight feet long! Unlike sea scorpions, Brontoscorpio was an aquatic true scorpion. It could grow three feet long and had a stinger the size of a light bulb. These aquatic scorpions (both true and sea scorpions) were probably mainly hunters of fish and aquatic invertebrates.
Pterygotus (bottom left) was one of the largest of sea scorpions.
Like all aquatic creatures, animals of the Cambrian Seas were created on Day 5 as the Bible says.
The Carboniferous Floating Forests were large forests that literally floated on top of the ocean!
At some point before reaching the coast, you might come across an incredible sight: the floating forests of the Carboniferous. See, larger plants appear for the first time in the fossil record in the Devonian and Carboniferous rock layers. Creationists have realized that these plants had hollow roots, trunks and branches, and that their roots grew outward instead of downwards. Then it occurred to these creationists: these plants formed an intricate network of floating mats of vegetation, similar to today's quaking bogs. Unlike quaking bogs, the Carboniferous Floating Forests floated atop the ocean and were far larger. The plants and trees of these forests were unique; the “Devonian plants” on the outer rims of these forests were small, but as you went toward the center, you would have seen some trees that could grow up to 150 feet tall. It was these plants that were responsible for most of the coal deposits now laid down in the earth.
Plant life in the floating forests were lush and provided homes for amphibians, fish and arthropods. (IMAGE CREDITS)
But the plants weren't the only amazing things to see in the Carboniferous Floating Forest, so were the animals. Insects were common here and grew to massive sizes. The largest flying insect, Meganeura, was a humongous dragonfly with a 2 ½ foot wingspan. Crawling among the “ground” were large spider-like eurypterids like Megarachne and the largest arthropod of all, Arthropleura, a millipede-relative as long as 6-10 feet. Among these arthropods were amphibians and fish, like the unique Tiktaalik.
Meganeura, a giant dragonfly, was queen of the Carboniferous skies! She had a wingspan of 2 1/2 feet!
The waters around the floating forests were not safe. Sharks and other predatory fish stalked the water, looking for prey. The largest Devonian predator was a nasty fish called Dunkleosteus, which also likely stalked the Cambrian Seas were checked out earlier. It grew as long as a school bus and was covered in bony armor-plating.
Dunkleosteus was a large predatory fish that lacked teeth. Instead, it possessed sharp shears that could crunch through tough armored prey!
Sandy Permian Coast (Permian, perhaps Triassic)
Imagine what it would have been like to see a Dimetrodon basking along the Permian coast at dawn.
Finally, we would reach the coasts of the pre-Flood Rodinia and see new and exciting forms of life. Buried in sandstone all around the world are the most bizarre reptiles you've ever seen, even more bizarre than many dinosaurs. The most common Permian creature was the Lystrosaurus, a pig-sized reptile with tusks. Their fossils have been uncovered in Antarctica, India and South Africa. They used their horny beaks to chomp away at the lush plant life. Other herbivorous reptiles, like Moschops and Scutosaurus could also be found here.
The pig-like Lystrosaurus was very widespread in the pre-Flood world.
The Permian coasts were not without their predators. Dimetrodon, a 6-10 foot reptile with a sail on its back and the grizzly bear-sized gorgonopsid Inostrancevia were apex predators of this habitat. Both predators were equipped to kill (after the Fall of Man) thanks to their unique teeth – while Dimetrodon had differently-sized teeth and Inostrancevia had four-inch saber-teeth to bring down their dinners.
On the Permian Sandy Coast, an Inostrancevia is preying upon a herd of Scutosaurus.
As the sediments are often quite similar, some creationists theorize that the Triassic rock layers represent the same or similar habitats to the Permian. So in addition to the creatures we see in the Permian, we would also see coastal species of dinosaurs, like Coelophysis and Eoraptor, both predators, and herbivores like Plateosaurus.
Plateosaurus would have been one of the largest Triassic herbivores.
Jurassic Environment
The Jurassic environment was busting with ferns and conifers, perfect food for a herd of hungry sauropods!
Heading inland, we meet the glories of the ancient pre-Flood world – dinosaurs. As I mentioned before, each of the main pre-Flood environments contained sub-divisions, each one represented by rock formations (several Jurassic sub-divisions include those of the Morrison, Shishugou and Kayenta Formations). One of the richest rock formations is the Morrison Formation, which mainly stretches into the states of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico.
Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable Jurassic dinosaurs, thanks to its four tail spikes and 17 spinal plates.
Plants in this habitat varied a little from today's plant variety. Coniferous trees, such as pines, and ferns dominated the floral portion of this environment. In fact, the ground cover seems to have consisted largely of ferns and cycads rather than grasses. Feeding on these plants were the largest animals ever to roam the land: the sauropods, or long-necked dinosaurs. There were many different species of sauropods in the Morrison Formation, so in order to find enough food to eat, they dedicated themselves to eating at different heights. Giants like Apatosaurus, Diplodocus and the newly-reclassified Brontosaurus ate mainly the lowest-growing plants, using their long necks to reach a lot of food without moving the rest of the body. Camarasaurus probably consumed medium-height plants. The tallest trees would be left to the tallest dinosaurs in the Morrison, like Brachiosaurus. Other dinosaurs such as the plate-backed Stegosaurus, the fleet-footed Dryosaurus and the Camptosaurus also coexisted here.
In this picture, we can see several different species of Jurassic dinosaurs, such as the predatory Allosaurus (far left), Camptosaurus (lower left), Ornitholestes (lower right), Stegosaurus (middle right) and the long-necked Apatosaurus (upper right). (PHOTO CREDITS)
These dinosaurs had to protect themselves by predators, either by sharp tail spikes, speed or even great size alone. Theropods like Ceratosaurus, Torvosaurus and Allosaurus would have preyed upon herbivorous dinosaurs.
Cretaceous Environment
The Cretaceous Environment featured many plants that we're familiar with today, such as magnolias, swamp cypress, palm trees and many others.
Finally, we reach the Cretaceous Environment, filled with a different set of plants and animals from those seen in the Jurassic. As with the Jurassic, there were many subdivisions of habitats within the main habitat: the Cretaceous. Some of these would have included: the Chenini, Flaming Cliffs and Hell Creek Formations.
Flowering plants were a common sight in the Cretaceous.
The Hell Creek Formation was where many of our favorite dinosaurs roamed the earth before the Flood. This formation includes portions of Montana, North and South Dakota and Wyoming. The Hell Creek Formation can easily be identified by its plant life; along with ferns, laurels also covered the ground. Adding a dash of color to the otherwise green world of plants were flowers. While we have not yet found evidence of grass in the Hell Creek Formation, it has been discovered in other Cretaceous formations. Growing alongside coniferous trees, angiosperms – broad-leafed trees like palm, maple and magnolia trees – also lived here.
Triceratops fossils are extremely common in the Hell Creek Formation.
Herbivorous dinosaurs were perfectly designed to munch through this vegetation. Duck-billed dinosaurs, scientifically known as hadrosaurs, like the Edmontosaurus had batteries of chewing teeth for grinding up these plants. Fossil bone beds of hundreds of Edmontosaurus skeletons indicates great herds of them roamed across the Hell Creek Formation. Popular dinosaurs like horned Triceratops and armored Ankylosaurus were not only made for a lifetime of eating, but also made for defense against their predators.
Edmontosaurus was a member of the hadrosaur family that roamed the Cretaceous environment in massive herds.
Predators were common in the Hell Creek Formation: the omnivorous Troodon was likely the fox of the Cretaceous, acting as an opportunist. Acheroraptor, a species of raptor closely related to Velociraptor, probably worked in gangs to bring down herbivores larger than itself. The largest predator of the Hell Creek Formation is also the most well-known dinosaur of all, Tyrannosaurus rex! This 40-foot animal had a bone-crushing bite and was the only carnivore capable of taking down a full-grown Triceratops. Danger in the Hell Creek Formation also came from the sky in the form of a pterosaur called Quetzalcoatlus. It wasn't a dinosaur, but it had a wingspan of 33 feet and a height of about 15 feet. It mainly hunted smaller animals on the ground, kind of like a giant, four-legged marabou stork.
Just a few of the many creatures of the Hell Creek Formation: (top left to bottom right) Ankylosaurus, Tyrannosaurus, Ornithomimus, Quetzalcoatlus, Triceratops, Acheroraptor, Pachycephalosaurus and Anzu.
The pre-Flood world was filled with vast and varied habitats, from the Cambrian Seas to the Cretaceous forests. The world God originally created was incredible, just like the world today. As a matter of fact, the pre-Flood world is so different from the present one, that something must have completely reshaped the face of the planet. Again, the Bible gives us the answer.
As beautiful as this pre-Flood world must have been, it was marred...marred with the sinfulness of man. The Bible describes men as only possessing evil in their hearts at all times. Something had to be done. There was only one family left on the planet that still worshiped and obeyed the Lord, and that was Noah's family. So God told Noah to build a huge boat to save him from what was to be the greatest cataclysmic event in the history of life on earth: the Genesis Flood.
After sin entered the world, dinosaurs, like this Edmontosaurus (top) had to defend themselves from carnivorous theropods.
In the next part of this series, we'll explore the geological forces that (literally) shook the world, during the Flood, destroying the face of planet earth as we know it!
Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address
It's the first day of May and spring is in full swing...actually here in Utah it feels like summer. Phew! Temperatures average anywhere between the 60's and upper-80's or so. I guess that's what I get for living in a desert. Strangely enough, when I want the sun to be out around here, it rains. Aren't these type of rain showers supposed to be in April so by May we can have spring flowers? I guess not in this part of Utah! In case any of you are wondering why I've been posting so many rerun articles lately, it's frankly because I have been very busy as of late. I have a series of new articles coming out next Friday. I really hope my schedule will open up a little and allow me time to write a bunch of new articles.
Days till:
It is: 9 days till Mother's Day
It is: 41 days till Jurassic World's theatrical release
It is: 49 days till Inside Out's theatrical release
In the Spotlight:
Wow! There's actually so much news on Jurassic World coming out every week that it's actually getting difficult to keep up, even for me, a hardcore Jurassic Park fan! First, let's talk about a little news that's been spread rapidly across the internet. Uproxx recently published an article titled "'Jurassic World' Will Ignore the Events of The Lost World and Jurassic Park III". Jurassicworld.orghas published their thoughts on this article, so I decided to do the same. You can read the article for yourself if you want more details, but essentially, they state that The Lost World and Jurassic Park III are not going to be part of the Jurassic World storyline, but will rather be kicked to the curb and forgotten in this movie. They claim that Jurassic World is going to be a direct sequel to the first film.
Frankly, this claim is utter nonsense. While it is true that The Lost World and Jurassic Park III will be put aside, they're not going to be considered un-canonical! See, the reason for this is because those two films take place on another island, Isla Sorna. Jurassic World takes place on Isla Nublar. Besides, as jurassicworld.org points out, they make a clear reference to Jurassic Park III on the Masrani Global Corporation viral website when they state the following:
"A seasoned security contractor, Vic Hoskins was involved in overseeing the infamous flying reptile "cleanup" operation over Canada in 2001. Due to the professionalism his team displayed, he was hired personally by Simon Masrani to re-develop InGen’s Security Division, which helped oversee the protection of workers on Isla Nublar during Jurassic World’s construction."
As you will recall if you've seen JPIII, several Pteranodons escape from the aviary on Isla Sorna and fly toward the mainland, likely looking for new nesting grounds. So, according to the website, not only is Vic Hoskins' security team responsible for recapturing these Pteranodons, but this is the reason they were hired to work at Jurassic World! In summary, TLW and JPIII are still canon!
In other news, a behind-the-scenes video from Jurassic World's production was released on the internet yesterday. It features some new footage, interviews from the director, Steven Spielberg, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard and several other actors from the film. Be sure to check it out below, as well as the screenshot of the hologram display in the park's Innovation Center!
Jurassic World's Innovation Center will feature a hologram display. Spared no expense!
I have two more updates. A video of the game play of the upcoming game Lego Jurassic World was released earlier this week. Even though it starts out speaking in German, it quickly switches to English. Please enjoy our first look at what looks like an incredible game:
Last, but certainly not least, an article in Empire magazine showed off some cool new photos from Jurassic World, including this one featured below:
Owen and the Raptor Squad: Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo.
Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan
People just love birds. One of everyone’s favorite types is no doubt the parrot. Parrots are very smart birds. We can train them to talk and recent tests even prove that at least some parrots actually know what they’re saying instead of just calling out words! God made these birds for us to enjoy. Parrots come in a wide range of sizes, from small Budgerigarsto the giant Kakapo. Haven’t heard of the Kakapo? Well, it’s this large green parrot that lives on New Zealand. It’s not very parrot-like at all; it can’t fly! Most parrots, as we all know, can fly very well. We often like to have them sit on our shoulders, especially pirates. But one species of parrot is bound to surprise you.
A Kea sitting on a rock.
This Kea Parrot is about to land on a white car. As you can see, the undersides of its wings are a beautiful orange color.
It’s called the Kea, a small green parrot (about 19 inches long) living in New Zealand. Most parrot species are loved by millions, but not the Kea. It denies normal parrot behavior and is rather . . . “mischievous”. First of all, it likes to live in urban areas where they will tip over trash cans, break car windows, invade camping sites, and play with windshield wipers to the point of breaking them! (So they’re sort of like foxes on the wing) Another thing that makes this parrot unique is that instead of living in the lush tropical forests, it lives in the snow on the alpine slopes. Keas are the only parrots known to live in this kind of habitat.
But probably the most surprising thing about the Kea is that instead of asking it, “Polly want a cracker?” you may want to ask, “Polly want a lamb chops?” This parrot will eat fruit, but lately, they've decided to go . . . no . . . it couldn’t be . . . could these guys be turning . . . CARNIVOROUS?!? Strange but true, in the spring, summer and fall, they normally eat daisies, berries and other fruits, nectar, pollen, insects and etc. But Keas have been seen actually eating not only stuff from trash cans (which is why they tip them over in the first place), but they also will eat carrion. In winter, these foods are harder to find. The rampage began in the 1800’s when people introduced sheep to New Zealand and the Keas started to eat carrion of dead sheep. Then they really went on the rampage! Keas are believed to have actually killed 200 or so sheep in a single night (in 1884) and 15,000 sheep in a season in. Just when you saw some animals appeared to be giving meat up like the lions did in a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, another animal switches onto meat.
How on earth do they kill sheep anyway? Well, they fly over to the sheep and start pecking at sores and I’d assume the sheep eventually died of shock and blood loss. Four main theories arose as to why the Kea transformed almost overnight to be a sheep-killer:
A Kea damaging a car.
They just switched from eating insects to eating sheep
There were maggots in the carrion they were eating so this is when they developed a taste for meat/
The Vegetable Sheep theory is: Keas thought the sheep were plants when they were lying down so they just accidentally ate a sheep and thought, “Hey, this tastes pretty good! We should do this more often!”
The bird’s diet changed because of theory adaptability, intelligence, curiosity and mischievousness
The last theory I mentioned is the one most scientists believe is most likely. Many scientists believe they also used to feast on Moa carrion too (Moas are giant birds that went extinct a few hundred years ago). Boy, I’m sure glad these birds don’t prey on people! If they did, we’d all be in big trouble no doubt! Because of their sheep-hunting behavior, the Kea was hunted and actually became endangered. The good news is, this bird received full protection in 1986.
Fortunately for all sheep-kind, Kea predations on livestock have gone down drastically. They are getting rarer and rarer over the past few years. However, occasional Kea attacks on sheep are still being reported, and most of these attacks are on sheep that are old, weak or sick (but some people sometimes will find healthy sheep with Kea wounds). So it seems as though the Kea is finally calming down . . . at least for the moment . . .
But don’t you start thinking this is the end of it! Kea’s aren’t the only so-called herbivores that weren’t told they are supposed to eat plants! A farmer in India lost 48 of his chickens. He suspected some dogs had done the deed, so he and his brother went out one night to catch the culprit. Boy were they in for a surprise when they saw his cow named Lal sneak into the chicken coop and started to grab and eat the chickens! How shocking in deed. So it turns out those cows promoting Chick-Fil-A aren’t only promoting the business, they’re also eating at the business!
Another example would be the was when someone took a trip to Kangaroo Island in Australia, the person dropped a BBQ steak sandwich. Then two grey kangaroos came in and devoured the sandwich, bread, meat and all.
In 1992, a wild Panda Bear killed and ate 26 goats before being captured and studied. In 2002, a British researcher got quite a shock when she saw a sheep snatch an oblivious grouse and devoured it whole!
Another sheep was seen gobbling up nine chickens. There’s even a horse that actually will chase down chickens and eat them whole. And believe it or not, when a film crew was filming a migration of Wildebeest in Africa, they were migrating through a river where our “friendly” hippos live. Some wildebeest were killed by crocodiles who also inhabit the river, but before some of the crocodiles could eat, hippos came in and started eating the carcass!
Should I go on? Just as many carnivorous animals will have a vegetarian diet, many animals have become carnivorous herbivores. This, as horrifying as it may be, is a reminder to us that all animals were originally designed to eat plants as it says in Genesis. But after the first people rebelled against God, animals could go either ways. Most chose to go herbivorous because that was what their bodies were most designed for, but others chose to become carnivorous. Of course though, as we just learned, animals can change their diets. Fortunately most animals tend to stick with the diets that best suits their bodies (for instance, while horses can eat chickens, they must have a hard time tearing the bird apart with those dull teeth). Most animals probably would get sick if they tried to eat food that doesn’t suit their body. However, even in this fallen world we live in, God has promised us to one day, restore His beautiful creation.
Disclaimer: Many (or in some cases all) of the photographs and images above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like them to be removed, politely let me know via my email address.
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