Early Dinosaurs Thrived by Becoming Bipedal?

by Ken Ham on March 21, 2024
Featured in Ken Ham Blog

A recent news article discussed research on how dinosaurs survived the end-Triassic/early-Jurassic mass extinction. Researchers looked at two clades, the clade Avemetatarsalia, which includes dinosaurs and pterosaurs, and compared them with Pseudosuchia, which includes crocodilians and their extinct relatives. They discovered that only a few pseudosuchians survived past the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, but many of the pterosaurs and dinosaurs flourished past that boundary.

So how did dinosaurs and pterosaurs do this (in the evolutionary paradigm)? They were faster, and more species were bipedal—whereas crocodilians remained crocodilians (meaning four-legged and slower). This research found that dinosaurs and pterosaurs maintained a higher range of locomotory modes throughout this period.

And of course, they had to evolve these means of locomotion, and all of this “evidence” is based on cladistics (which assumes that shared characteristics are evidence for a common ancestor, and then evolutionary paleontologists and anatomists arbitrarily select character traits, which are assigned values based on evolutionary dogma).

Mike Benton, a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences and a coauthor on the journal article, stated, “After the end of the Triassic, when there was a mass extinction, the dinosaurs expanded again. Most of the pseudosuchians were wiped out by the mass extinction, except for the ancestors of crocodiles, and we found that these surviving dinosaurs expanded their range of locomotion again, taking over many of the empty niches.”

Another coauthor, Dr. Suresh Singh, added, “Their diversity of posture and focus on fast running meant that dinosaurs could diversify when they had the chance. . . . they were immensely adaptable, and this ensured strong success on Earth for so long.”

Ah yes, the power of positive thinking by these dinosaurs simply moved them to evolve bipedality and faster speeds. And the poor crocodilians just weren’t as forward-thinking and so evolved much slower.

In a biblical worldview, God created many kinds of reptiles, with many different ways to walk, run, and fly (for pterosaurs).

But in a biblical worldview, God created many kinds of reptiles, with many different ways to walk, run, and fly (for pterosaurs). And, SPOILER ALERT, these animals did not survive several mass extinctions, they (except those on Noah’s ark) were wiped out (think Noah’s flood), and the fossil record is a testimony to this catastrophic event.

The purported mass extinctions from the Cambrian on up through the end-Cretaceous are just different ecological zones which were flooded, killing creatures from the sea to the coastal areas to the plains and lastly the highlands. So which type of creature would have survived the flood longer? Slow-moving crocodilians or fast-moving dinosaurs and flying pterosaurs? The answer should be obvious. Dinosaurs and pterosaurs would have moved to higher ground and thus been buried later in the flood (which lasted approximately a year).

The fossil record of the flood demonstrates that God does judge sin and that there is only one door of salvation. At the time of the flood, it was the door to the ark. Today it is Jesus, who said he is the door and you must enter into that door to be saved (John 10:7–9). Just as in the flood there was much bad news (many people and animals died in the flood), but there was good news for the occupants of the ark (they were saved); there now is very bad news for humans who reject Christ, but unimaginable good news for those who come through the one door of salvation.

Get More Answers on Answers News

This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Gabriela Haynes, Dr. Jennifer Rivera, and Rob Webb. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:

  • Did France make abortion a constitutional right?
  • Is there a problem with the big bang and the universe’s expansion?
  • Can Darwinists explain the evolution of the human chin?
  • And more!

Watch the entire episode of Answers News for March 18, 2024.

Be sure to join us each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.

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