Why are dinosaurs not mentioned in the Bible?(continued)
Fossil specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex, a well-known "terrible lizard," have been discovered with collagen and other soft tissue biomaterials intact. These materials break down and do not last for millions of years.
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Photo credit to Institute for Creation Research:
How long ago did dinosaurs live?
One question concerning dinosaurs is the length of time that has passed since they were preserved as fossils in rock layers throughout the world. Paleontologist Mary Schweitzer has documented fossil bone fragments of Tyrannosaurus rex fossils in Montana that have traces of collagen and blood, and protein structures that would have long expected to have broken down if the fossils were really 75 million years old. Establishment paleontology—what is taught, for example, at universities—has been slow to accept evidence of proteins and tissue in dinosaur fossils. A plausible explanation for the presence of such soft tissues with fossilized bone fragments requires a relatively recent burial. Therefore, conventional dates like 75 million years as the age of dinosaur fossils are not credible. Soft tissues would not be preserved intact over such a long interval.
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We have other evidence that dinosaurs continued to exist on the earth, alongside of man, until the last few thousand years, but it is less certain. Ancient drawings of creatures in different parts of the world resemble dinosaurs. Some of these drawings are replicas of originals, made for the benefit of tourists, but good evidence exists of original drawings that depict dinosaur-like creatures[i].
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Scientists have not definitively established what caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs. From a Biblical perspective, the range of biodiversity was reduced by the global flood in Noah’s time. Since only one breeding pair of every kind of each non-aquatic, air-breathing animal was preserved, the risk of extinction in the years immediately following the flood was high. The death of either parent before mating, or the death of their offspring, would have been an extinction event.
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The conditions for life on the earth after the flood are generally regarded as less favourable than those before the flood. After the flood, both the adult average body size of many living creatures and their lifespans were reduced. The large lizards may not have fared well in environmental conditions different than those they experienced before the flood. The abundance of dinosaur fossils, including millions of reptilian eggs, would suggest that large reptiles were prolific before the flood event, which preserved them in the fossil record.