Croc-nosed dinosaur bone surprises researchers
Spinosaur fossil shows that dinosaurs got around, but how?
Published: 19 January 2012(GMT+10)
A spinosaur fossil found in the southeastern state of Victoria in Australia suggests dinosaurs were much more mobile than previously thought.1 The single fossil vertebra, unearthed in the 1990s, is identical to that of a spinosaurid called Baryonyx walkeri which was previously thought to only live in the northern European climes. Thus the original paper called it “the first Australian spinosaurid theropod dinosaur.”2 Most of this sounds like it is good, solid, scientific research. That is until the evolutionary explanation begins.
Where the spinosaurs lived
One point of contention is that the researchers assume that since the fossilized bone was found in southeastern Australia, that’s where these creatures lived. The scientists say that dinosaurs came to what would become Australia before it was broken off into its own continent. Study researcher Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum in London said:
“Instead of being limited to various parts of the world, it looks like dinosaurs were able to disperse over very large distances”.3
How many times have we heard this from the evolution camp? A new fossil discovery undermines the ‘facts’ they once thought about their beloved story.
In the original paper, Barrett and his colleagues state:
“This discovery significantly extends the geographical range of spinosaurids, suggesting that the clade obtained a near-global distribution before the onset of Pangaean fragmentation.”
However, while there are indeed fossils showing evidence of rapid burial in situ,4 just because a creature is found dead in one area does not mean that is where it lived. It’s very conceivable that during the global flood of Noah’s time, some of these dinosaurs lived on different parts of the dry land that God created on Day 3 of creation week. When the floodwaters came and began flowing over the pre-Flood continents, some of these creatures could have been transported large distances by the waters, perished, buried and fossilized in widely separated areas in what is now Europe and also Australia.
The BBC News Science and Environment section had a similar story on this, with a revealing quote by Dr. Barrett:
“The traditional idea has been that these ancient animals could be placed into distinctive, geographically separated groups. This small vertebra undermines that view”.5
Even though this fossil find has been described in evolutionary terms by LiveScience, it is actually more consistent with the biblical account of Earth history as recorded in Genesis.
How many times have we heard this from the evolution camp? A new fossil discovery undermines the ‘facts’ they once thought about their beloved story. Obviously this is not the first time this has been stated, nor will it be the last. See also, Sediba not human ancestor, Homo habilis hacked from the family tree, and Not at all like a whale. Even the original paper said:
“ … caution is necessary when attempting to establish a palaeobiogeographic patterns on the basis of a patchily distributed fossil record.”3
Dinosaur world travelers?
The LiveScience article continues:
“During the early Cretaceous, the supercontinent Pangea was fragmenting, creating a northern supercontinent called Laurasia and a southern supercontinent called Gondwana … Scientists had thought the dinosaurs likewise broke into two categories, northern and southern with little overlap. But if spinosaurs were running around Australia, might other dinosaurs have ranged across the globe as well?”1
An observation such as this comes as no surprise to those who hold a biblical worldview. The Bible suggests that God created a single land mass before the Flood (Genesis 1:9). During this global cataclysm recorded in Genesis 6–8, this land mass broke apart.6 And during this cataclysm, the rising floodwaters covered all the high mountains under the entire heavens.7 It’s easy to deduce that Noah’s Flood was the cause of the spinosaur’s demise.
Even though this fossil find has been described in evolutionary terms by LiveScience, it is actually more consistent with the biblical account of Earth history as recorded in Genesis. Christians can look forward to the latest findings in the realm of science because scientific discoveries are consistent with the true history of the world recorded in the Bible. It’s those who believe in Darwinian evolution who are routinely surprised by what is being uncovered—evidence that they are wrong.
- Pappas, S., Crocodile-Nosed Dinosaur Found in Australia, LiveScience, 14 June 2011. This popular article consistently uses the incorrect term "spinatosaur(id)". Return to text.
- Paul M. Barrett, Roger B. J. Benson, Thomas H. Rich, and Patricia Vickers-Rich, First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, Biol Lett 2011: rsbl.2011.0466v1-rsbl20110466.; the researchers say it came from a juvenile. Return to text.
- Barrett, P.M. et al., First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas, Biology Letters, 21 June 2011 | doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0466. Return to text.
- E.g. see Buried birth, Creation 19(3):38–39, 1997. Also note the careful analysis by Oard, M., A new discovery of dinosaur eggs and embryos in West-Central Argentina, Journal of Creation 13(2):3–4, 1999. Return to text.
- Amos, J., Australian dinosaur had UK double, BBC News, 14 June 2011. Return to text.
- See also What about continental drift? Chapter 11, Creation Answers Book. Return to text.
- Today’s mountains were pushed up towards the end of the Flood. See also Noah’s Flood what about all that water? Chapter 12, Creation Answers Book. Return to text.