Today I’m going to share with you more extinct animals. These are found in the fossil record. I will show you some that I have seen in person.
1 Tyrannosaurus rex
Known for short T-rex, it was one of the largest meat eating dinosaurs of all time. It’s sharp teeth were perfectly designed for hunting large prey. However, before sin entered the world they used their teeth to chew plants like large fruit, because death had not existed yet. No one is for sure if the t-rex hunted alone, or in packs. The famous t-rex known as “Sue” was found with bone fragments from three other tyrannosaurs, showing there is a possibility they did hunt in packs. In 2013, a fossil Triceratops was found with tyrannosaurus teeth lodged in it’s skull, showing that the popular idea of t-rex battling a triceratops did happen.
Unlike most dinosaurs that had eye sockets on the side, and rotated their head back and forth to see, the tyrannosaurus rex eyes were designed at the front of the head, which allowed them to see straight ahead, with what is called “stereoscopic vision”. So a t-rex could easily look straight at you over the top of it’s nose and all around.
One golden artifact from Peru I saw on a dinosaur creation based website, looked a lot like a relative of the t-rex. It had a t-rex like head with sharp teeth, and it’s leg with three toed feet sticking down from the body and not sprawled out, like a crocodile ( because early scientists thought dinosaurs moved like them, but later on they discovered that their legs went straight down from the body, just like a hippo or giraffe). Dinosaurs mentioned in the bible, found in deep rock layers, and depicted in different cultures around the world, show that they were created by God, died in Noah’s flood, lived with people, and were hunted by people, only thousands of years ago.
2 Saber-Toothed Cat
This picture is a saber toothed cat at OMSI. I visited there two years ago, and saw it with my brother. One of the most mysterious of cats. Most of their fossils have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits, in Los Angeles, California. It seems that after the flood, many animals, including saber toothed cats struggled to keep away from the tar pits, and drowned in them.
Famous for those sharp and long canine teeth, that would have been used to bite the throats of prey like extinct horses, giant ground sloths, prairie buffalo or young mammoths. Like most cats, they had retractable claws that possibly helped with hunting, using them like anchors to hold on to prey animals (just like lions).
Another reason for their extinction is man. Humans probably hunted them, for reasons we may never know, until we see Jesus in heaven.
3 Trilobites
Trilobites were one of the most strangest of sea creatures. They lived on the ocean floor in huge numbers. Each year, some paleontologists will find one new fossilized species. Some species were 1 to 3 inches long while others were over 2 feet long. Their name means ” three lobed”. They were more related to crustaceans (crabs, isopods, lobsters etc).
They are also the state fossil of Ohio!
Unlike most animals that have eyes made of living cells, trilobite eyes were made of a crystal like substance! Like insect eyes, their eyes had many lenses, so they had the ability to see in many directions. On the top of the body, a trilobite had protective armor, just like the horseshoe crab, but unlike horseshoe crabs, some trilobites had antennae. They also had a soft bottom that if flipped over, they could be an easy target for predators. How come no one has rediscovered the trilobites alive? All it took for their extinction, was the powerful force of Noah’s flood, burying them in layers of sediment, before they could escape.
4 Ichthyosaurs-“Sea Dragons”
The first ichthyosaur was discovered by Joseph Anning, along the coast of England in 1810. Ichthyosaur means ” fish reptile“, because of its fish looking appearance. Fossils show how they reproduced, and what they ate. Squid has been found fossilized in their stomachs. Fossil dung from those sea dragons, show they also ate fish, and other ichthyosaurs.
One of the most amazing ichthyosaur fossils, is a ichthyosaur giving birth to its young. Unlike most reptiles that lay eggs, ichthyosaurs and some other kinds of sea dragons gave birth to live young. The fossils show some could give birth to triplets, and some just had one offspring.
Some ichthyosaur fossils show that just like dolphins, their young are born tail first (if one was born head first, it would drown). Since they had streamlined bodies, there is a possibility that they would have lived the same way as dolphins and swam like fish. Even though they looked like fish, they were reptiles, just like turtles, lizards, and crocodiles, so they had to go to the surface of the ocean to breathe.
5 Pterosaurs
Pterosaurs were some of the largest flying animals on earth, but some pterosaurs were really small. Some pterosaurs had hair-like filaments on their bodies, that kept them warm in colder environments. One pterosaur fossil has an amazing story to tell.
About 4,300 years ago in what is today the country of Germany, there was a pterosaur called a rhamphorynchus. It dove in the waters of Noah’s Flood to catch a small fish. While the fish was being partly swallowed in the throat of the reptile, a longer and larger fish with his sword like bill, ( this fish was not a sword fish) stabbed the pterosaur in the left wing. After realizing the pterosaur was too big to swallow, it tried to pull it’s sharp pointy bill out. The fossil shows they were both struggling to free themselves, right before the Flood waters buried them in layers of sediment.
For a long time, no one was sure if pterosaurs laid eggs, or gave birth to live young. In the summer of 2004, two teams, one in China, and one in Argentina, both claimed to have found pterosaur eggs. Judging by what I have studied, it seems that pterosaurs did lay eggs.
Fossil evidence shows that some pterosaurs might have had pouches like pelicans, to collect fish. Fossil evidence also shows that pterodaustro, used it’s baleen ( baleen is the tooth brush like structures in some whales mouths) to collect any microscopic animals in the water. Just like whales.
Like bats, pterosaurs had a kind of membrane that stretched in between their long pinkie wing bone and their legs to help with flight. Some fossils show that they would have been great flyers, maneuvering well in the sky.
I hoped you enjoyed learning about these creatures, that point to the all wise and powerful designer, Jesus Christ. The one who made all things, and the one that died for our sins on the cross, and that was raised from the dead. Who is also coming back to take those who believe in him home. God bless
In part 3 I will share with you recent extinctions that have happened since the beginning of this century, until now.
This is maximus adventures, over and out!
“To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” Romans 16:27
