Four Short Dinosaur Articles

With an abundance of material, I thought it best to combine links to these articles into one post. Each of these is a quick read but they have some interesting information about how paleontologists are baffled by new discoveries — including how one fossil blatantly defies deep-time reckoning.

Credit: Pixabay / GeorgeB2

Our first entry is about sex. Katie, bar the door! Just kidding. It's more about how difficult it is to determine the sex of dinosaurs. There have been many speculations over the years, but it's mighty difficult when all you have are bone fragments and fossils (reasonably complete skeletons are rare). Since paleontologists agree that dinosaurs were probably reptiles, perhaps a comparison with existing reptiles could help. Seems reasonable.

Recently, a new study led by Queen Mary University of London concluded that dinosaur bones tell us little about their sexes. In the past, secular scientists have made various claims about the ability to make sex determinations in dinosaurs. Most concluded that female predatory dinosaurs (theropods like T. rex) were likely larger than males. However, that appears to be unsubstantiated by the actual data.

This new study examined living reptiles to see if their bones alone could determine the sex of the animal. The research team worked with gharials, an endangered crocodilian species.

To finish reading this first short subject, click on "We Still Can’t Determine the Sex of Dinosaurs". Don't forget to come back for the second piece.

It may come as a shock to some folks, but dinosaur movies are not exactly documentaries. Why should they be? People are watching terrible lizard chomp fests for entertainment, and the movie makers want to make money. If you think about it a spell, unless something can be demonstrated to be wrong, the writers' and directors' guesses are just as valid as those of the experts.

Those shows depict dinosaurs like the Velociraptor as large, cunning hunters that worked in groups. Well, the actual Velociraptor of the fossil record were not to be feared; they were the size of chickens, so one good kick and you're home free. Once again, examining the habits of modern reptiles as well as examining isotopes in fossil teeth, gives researchers reasons to believe that dinosaurs were solitary creatures.

A new study published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology has found that the behavior of dinosaurs in movies is not very accurate at all. This should come as no surprise because many movies portray dinosaurs as bigger, faster, and smarter than they likely were in life. In fact, most dinosaurs in movies are more fantasy than reality.

In fact, lead author Joseph Frederickson from the University of Wisconsin's Weis Earth Science Museum has found the hunting behavior of theropod dinosaurs, like the Velociraptor, more likely hunted alone rather than in packs like many movies portray. He added:

You can find out more by clicking on "Dinosaur 'Raptors' Likely Hunted Alone". That's two short subjects, two more to go.

Lately, we've been seeing reports about the comparisons of feet and legs between humans and apes, and learned that the stiffness of the human foot and the lack of it in apes further confounds evolutionists. A good deal of information can be determined from the structure of dinosaur legs as well. The Creator designed some critters to be runners, some to be walkers. Looks like the Tyrant Lizard King was not going to chase down your jeep as you drove off.

A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE has found that T. rex had legs made more for walking, rather than running. Their long legs were well designed for sustained foraging.

T. Alexander Dececchi (from the Department of Biology, Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota) and colleagues from several institutions began their article by stating,

Limb length, cursoriality and speed have long been areas of significant interest in theropod [meat-eater] paleobiology, since locomotory capacity, especially running ability, is critical in the pursuit of prey and to avoid becoming prey.

However, their current study revealed that long leg length in large dinosaurs does not necessarily equate to high running speeds.

To finish our third short article, click on "T. rex Had Legs Designed for Walking". Our final installment is problematic for evolutionists.

Your average evolution devotee believes that fossils are in an orderly progression from simple organisms to complex. However, that's the sanitized version. To look at the bigger picture, fossils appear out of order, in the "wrong" places entirely, and this dinosaur had some traits that don't fit the narrative. If naturalists would drop their preconceptions and examine creation science models, they would see that the Genesis Flood is the best explanation for the observed evidence.

A new study published in the journal Gondwana Research has identified a rather out-of-place bone from a theropod dinosaur called an elaphrosaur that apparently didn’t eat meat. In fact, it was toothless. Adding to the mystery, it was found in rocks thought by secular scientists to be 40 million years too young. Furthermore, the dinosaur was found in a location that is claimed to have been close to the South Pole. Something doesn’t add up.

The new dinosaur bone was found in 2015 near Cape Otway, Victoria, in southeastern Australia by a volunteer named Jessica Parker. It was identified as a vertebra from an elaphrosaur, or “light-footed reptile,” and is the first of this kind of dinosaur found in Australia. This group of dinosaurs fall in the ceratosaur category of theropod dinosaurs, having similarities with Dilophosaurus, a Jurassic dinosaur common in the Western USA.

To reach the startling conclusion of our quartet of short articles, click on "New Australian Dinosaur Surprises Evolutionists".