As more methods are developed for studying the fine detail and internal structure of dinosaur bones scientists are finding abundant evidence of disease and trauma. Here are some recent examples.
Researchers in Spain analysed a trackway of dinosaur footprints and found some anomalies, described as: “wide-steps, and a set of equally deformed left footprints (with a dislocated digit).” They concluded the tracks were made by a theropod dinosaur 6 to 7 meters long, walking at 4 km per hour, but with a distinct limp caused by a deformed foot.
A group of scientists have carried out a microscopic study of the bone around a hole in the bony frill of a Triceratops named Triceratops horridus, originally found in the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation in USA. They found evidence of newly formed bone and inflammation, indicating the bone had been damaged during the dinosaur’s lifetime and had been going through the process of healing for about six months before the dinosaur died. The researchers concluded the injury could have occurred when fighting with another Triceratops.|
Scientists at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum have studied the neck bones of a long necked sauropod found in Montana in rocks dated as Late Jurassic, approximately 150 million years ago. They found some unusual bony protrusions in an area of the bones that would have been penetrated by air sacs. They concluded these were the result of a fungal infection similar to aspergillosis, a disease that occurs in birds and reptiles today, which enters the body as a respiratory infection. The dinosaur would have suffered flu or pneumonia-like symptoms, including weight loss, cough, fever, and difficulty in breathing.
References
Deformed Foot: Science (AAAS) News 6 April 2022, PLoSONE 6 April 2022 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264406
Triceratops Wound: Science (AAAS) News 7 April 2022, Scientific Reports 7 April 2022 doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-08033-2
Neck bone infection: SciTech Daily 13 February 2022, Scientific Reports 10 February 2022 doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-05761-3
Editorial Comment: Dinosaur bones with signs of disease and trauma have been known about for a long time. Creation Research has some in our collection, and we have seen them in the collections of our colleagues and in public museums. It is interesting to see the details of the disease and trauma confirmed by these new research methods.
As such, dinosaur bones are a reminder that the fossil record is a record of disease, death and degeneration, therefore, they cannot represent the original very good world God made, nor the human beings who lived in for a short time before sin entered the world. When God finished the creation, complete with the first human beings, there were no limping, coughing, fighting dinosaurs. Disease, death and struggle came into the world after Adam sinned and God cursed the ground.
By the time of Noah the world was filled with corruption and violence, and therefore many of the animals that were drowned and buried in the Great Flood would have been diseased or traumatised during their lifetime.
Those who want to believe the fossils represent millions of years of evolution that occurred before human beings came into existence, but who also claim to believe the Bible are deluding themselves and insulting Christ the Creator and Saviour. Organisations such as BioLogos and others who claim they are defending science and scripture are doing neither. True science confirms the Biblical history of the world – brilliant design damaged by disease and trauma. This is change but it is not evolution.
Creation Research News 5 May 2022
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