3. Fallen

One of the saddest days in history was also one of the earliest. Now we don’t know exactly how long it was after the creation week that Adam and Eve sinned, but it couldn’t have been too long because they didn’t have kids yet. God told them to “Be fruitful and multiply” Genesis 1:28. Since they had no kids by the time of their first sin, we can confidently assume that it wasn’t very long after creation. But on that day, because of man’s sin, pain, disease, suffering, and death entered the world.

So why do some animals have defense and attack structures if everything was originally a vegetarian? Porcupines have quills, rattlesnakes have venom, rhinos have horns, and Ankylosaurus had a thick bony armor all over its body. Why is that? Well, God is omniscient, meaning he knows everything. He knew that Adam and Eve would eventually disobey him and that we as human beings would need a savior. Equally so, he knew that some animals would change their diet. Some would remain herbivores, while others became carnivores, insectivores, or omnivores (eating both plants and meat). Therefore, it is entirely possible that God made the original animals with these defense/attack structures already in place because he knew they would need them to survive in a fallen world, a world broken by sin.

Artist Rendering of Ankylosaurus

Dinosaurs were no exception. Many different dinosaurs have traits that aided them in defending themselves from predators or in hunting and capturing their prey. For example, most ceratopsians (like Triceratops) had horns on their skulls that they could use to ward off predators. There is a lot of fossil evidence of these defense/attack structures being used by these animals. Claw and teeth marks matching predatory dinosaurs have been found on many different herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaurs. One unique pair of fossils found in Mongolia (an herbivorous ceratopsian called Protoceratops, and a small raptor, called Velociraptor) were found locked in combat, with the mouth of the proto still biting down on the wrist of the raptor. Meanwhile, the raptor still clung to the ceratopsian with its sharp and curved claws.

These predator/prey relationships are found throughout the fossil record and even in the animal kingdom today. Ever since the fall, man and animals have been struggling for survival, including dinosaurs. These unique reptiles fought and died with each other and other animals for centuries leading up to the Great Flood. This global flood was God’s judgment on the increasingly wicked world.

Cobalt via Wikimedia Commons