Reptiles

From Life: Enhanced edition

Alligators

Two ingenious design features make the alligator a fearsome predator as he chases fish, birds, and small mammals. But alligators were not always meat-eaters. Like other predators in this now-fallen world, they continue to remind us about the Curse caused by Adam’s sin.

Turtles in the Winter

Box turtles truly take “hibernation” to another level. What special provision enables these four-legged tanks to endure subzero weather in such woefully shallow burrows? The answer sounds almost like science fiction. God equipped them with antifreeze!

Legs on a Snake?

A leg on a snake would not be a truly novel genetic feature, since there is evidence that the snake genome once had the information to produce legs. The leglessness of snakes today represents a corruption, loss, or deactivation of that information.

Chameleons: Walking Bug-Zappers

Stealth. Patience. Vigilance. Slowly the hunter moves unseen among the branches. His independently rotating eyes constantly scan the leafy canopy in every direction. No insect is safe within striking distance of his infamous weapon—a fast-acting and deadly accurate catapulting tongue. Aided by his steady grip and excellent vision, the chameleon is always ready to seize unsuspecting prey.

News About Reptiles

• News

  Are Chameleons Evolving Brighter Colors?

  

  May 24, 2022 from Ken Ham Blog

  A study comparing the original Kenyan chameleons with the Hawaiian populations found the island dwellers were 30% brighter than their African counterparts.

Articles About Reptiles

• Magazine Department Article

  Lizards on Lava

  

  Oct. 6, 2024 from Answers Magazine

  Scientists studying a species in the Mojave Desert, known as side-blotched lizards, have learned that individual lizards can change coloring within a few weeks.

• Magazine Department Article

  Satan’s Serpents or the Creator’s Creatures?

  

  June 11, 2023 from Answers Magazine

  A biblical perspective separates truth from myth about snakes.

• Magazine Department Article

  Decked Out for the Desert

  

  May 1, 2022 from Answers Magazine

  Horned lizards aren’t known for speed to avoid predators or venom to bring down threats. But these miniature dragons have tricks for desert survival.

• Does the Bible Say That Cobras Make Themselves Deaf?

  

  Aug. 31, 2021

  Proper biblical hermeneutics should guide poetic and historical passage readings, especially when skeptics charge that the Bible says things the author did not intend.

• How Did Snakes Get Their Venomous Bite?

  

  July 16, 2019

  If God called His creation “very good,” then why does it include dangerous venomous snakes today?

• Magazine Article

  Lethal Lizards

  

  May 1, 2019 from Answers Magazine

  The existence of venom in so many animals has long challenged creationists. How did it show up in a very good creation?

• Snakes Appear to Live a Cursed Life

  

  April 6, 2019

  A recent study was published purporting to explain how snakes lost their limbs, and it revealed some surprising findings.

• Gecko: Designed to Climb

  

  Aug. 1, 2017 from 10 Cursed Creatures with Undeniable Design

  The gecko is designed to climb. Scientists had to magnify the gecko’s foot thousands of times to find out its secret to defying gravity.

• Magazine Article

  Eastern Box Turtles—Frozen Alive!

  

  Jan. 7, 2017 from Answers Magazine

  Eastern box turtles can literally be “frozen alive” and emerge unharmed.

• In-Depth Article

  Four-Legged Snake Fails as a Transitional Form and Perhaps Even as a Snake

  

  Nov. 22, 2016 from Answers in Depth

  Hailed as a transitional form between modern snakes and their supposed lizard ancestors, Tetrapodophis amplectus is now the subject of heated controversy.

• Magazine Article

  Walking Cathedrals

  

  Sept. 18, 2016 from Answers Magazine

  You don’t have to travel to Paris to see one of the world’s greatest cathedrals. If you look carefully, one may be walking around in your own backyard.

• Magazine Department Article

  Winged Wonders

  

  Dec. 20, 2015 from Answers Magazine

  Winged reptiles were primitive, clumsy, “prehistoric” beasts, barely able to get off the ground, right? Take a closer look and see.

• In-Depth Article

  Four-Legged Snake Fossil Found in Museum

  

  Aug. 13, 2015 from Answers in Depth

  Many evolutionists believe the discovery of a four-legged fossilized snake is evidence of a burrowing lizard in the snake’s evolutionary past, but is it?

• In-Depth Article

  Is “Grandfather Turtle” the Transitional Form that Puts Creationist Claims to Rest?

  July 23, 2015 from Answers in Depth

  With Pappochelys’s shell characteristics like those of other extinct turtles and a diapsid skull, should creation scientists be having nightmares?

• Magazine Department Article

  Turtle Wrestling?

  

  June 14, 2015 from Answers Magazine

  This issue of Answers in filled with muscular tools—many articles to help you on topics where the Bible is under attack.

• Chameleons’ Color of Divine Wisdom

  April 18, 2015

  Chameleons’ skin color can shift dramatically, and in just a few minutes their colors can revert back to the original. How do they do this?

• In-Depth Article

  The Butcher Crocodile and the Bible

  

  March 26, 2015 from Answers in Depth

  To evolutionists, the "butcher" crocodile demonstrates crocodiles had evolved to be major Triassic predators millions of years before dinosaurs ruled the world.

• In-Depth Article

  Is Rapid Lizard Adaptation a Template for Deep-Time Evolution?

  Nov. 15, 2014 from Answers in Depth

  Evolutionists declare stickier toes reveal the path up the evolutionary tree.

• Magazine Article

  Chameleons—A Bug’s Worst Nightmare

  

  April 27, 2014 from Answers Magazine

  A chameleon might look bizarre to you, but not to a bug.

• Magazine Department Article

  Thorny Dragon

  Jan. 1, 2014 from Answers Magazine

  Ever race in the hot sun without a hydration pack? Well, you wouldn’t stand a chance against this scary-looking critter.

• Fruit-Eating Crocodiles Dispel Carnivorous Misconceptions

  Dec. 2, 2013 from News to Know

  Contrary to conventional wisdom, crocodilians not only can digest fruit but seem to commonly and intentionally consume it.

• Magazine Department Article

  Snake Medicine

  April 1, 2013 from Answers Magazine

  Besides being the fastest land snake, the black mamba also has one of the fastest-acting snake vemons of any land snake.

• Mamba Venom Derives from Gene Duplication

  Oct. 13, 2012 from News to Know

  Venomous variations of nontoxic proteins and a potent painkiller in mamba venom point to variability available within created kinds.

• A Snake Version of Lucy

  Aug. 4, 2012 from News to Know

  “It’s the ‘Lucy’ of snakes,” claims Yale paleontologist.

• Magazine Department Article

  Vertebratesimals

  June 22, 2012 from Answers Magazine

  In late 2011, scientists described a newly discovered chameleon species on Madagascar.

• African Reptile First With a True Placenta

  Oct. 15, 2011 from News to Know

  The skink that breaks the rules

• Magazine Article

  Salt Sneezing Lizards

  

  May 29, 2011 from Answers Magazine

  The marine iguana displays special design for sneezing excess salt.

• Chameleon Fun Facts

  March 29, 2011

  Learn fun facts about chameleons.

• The Legless Snakes

  Feb. 12, 2011 from News to Know

  Why and how did “serpents” lose their limbs? The research may move forward, but the answer stays (largely) the same.

• Magazine Department Article

  Evolution in (In)Action

  Dec. 27, 2010 from Answers Magazine

  An Australian lizard can apparently either give live birth or lay eggs.

• The Snake Can Walk?

  Sept. 19, 2009 from News to Know

  A snake with a leg—is it evidence of evolution, creation, both, or neither?

• Amazing Turtle Shell Development

  July 18, 2009 from News to Know

  The incredible way a turtle develops a shell—is it an evolutionary accident or part of God’s design?

• Magazine Department Article

  Turtle Power

  

  April 1, 2009 from Answers Magazine

  Turtles are some of the most unique of God's creatures.

• Snake Fangs and Evolution

  Aug. 9, 2008

  If the riddle of where fangs fit into snake evolution has been gnawing at you, biologists may have come up with an answer.

• The Danger of Komodo Dragons

  June 14, 2008

  Rare and rarely seen outside of zoos, the Komodo dragon is the world’s largest lizard. But recently a group of stranded Britons had an encounter with a Komodo dragon that was reminiscent of a dinosaur-era battle.

• Many Flying Reptiles Were Carnivorous

  May 31, 2008

  Mighty pterosaurs may have landed and strolled about on land when it was time to dine, reports LiveScience on a study published in PLoS ONE.

• Sea Reptile is Now Largest on Record

  March 1, 2008

  Norwegian scientists have announced the largest marine reptile known to modern science, a fossil discovered in 2006 in Norway’s far-north Svalbard islands.

• Magazine Department Article

  A Leg Up?

  

  Oct. 1, 2007 from Answers Magazine

  Researchers in India have discovered a lizard without limbs, and it looks virtually identical to a snake.

• Magazine Article

  Sea Turtles—One of Today's “Living Fossils”

  

  July 1, 2007 from Answers Magazine

  Sea turtles are intriguing to watch and study. A look at the facts reveals that they have been around for thousands (not millions) of years.

• Lopsided Snakes

  March 10, 2007

  One of this week’s examples of “evolution” in action is Pareas iwasakii, the Japanese snake.

• Snakes with Legs? A Preliminary Reply

  March 20, 2000

  Some preliminary thoughts about snakes with legs.

• Magazine Article

  A Lizard on Your Ceiling

  Sept. 1, 1992, pp. 6–7

  The gecko lizard can walk across your ceiling upside-down without falling off. How does it do tills? Until a few years ago scientists did not know, though they proposed several conflicting theories.