Flood rafting lizards, reported in articles in ScienceDaily 31 March and Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 1 April 2015. Worm lizards (scientific name Amphisbaenia) are small burrowing lizards that are found on five different continents. Evolutionary biologists usually explain animals with such a widespread distribution in terms of continental drift.
Scientists from the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Yale University and George Washington University have studied worm lizard fossils and DNA from living worm lizards, and concluded that they “evolved rapidly and expanded to occupy new habitats around 65 million years ago”. This is considered to be after the original supercontinent Pangea broke up, and therefore the lizards could not have reached their widely dispersed locations by continental drift.
Nick Longrich, one of the researchers from the University of Bath, explained: “Continental drift clearly can’t explain the patterns we’re seeing. Continental breakup was about 95 million years ago, and these animals only became widespread 30 million years later. It seems highly improbable not only that enough of these creatures could have survived a flood clinging to the roots of a fallen tree and then travelled hundreds of miles across an ocean, but that they were able to thrive and flourish in their new continent. But having looked at the data, it is the only explanation for the remarkable diversity and spread of not just worm lizards, but nearly every other living thing as well”.
The idea that animals could be spread between land masses by drifting on rafts of vegetation and debris is not new. Darwin suggested it as a method of dispersion of species, along with migration across land bridges.
Editorial Comment: For once we agree with Darwin, but not with his or any current evolutionists’ timetables. The idea of lizards riding rafts rather than moving with the continents to be dispersed around the world is not far-fetched, and it doesn’t take millions of years.
In fact, this is probably one of the ways many small land dwelling animals, especially small reptiles and invertebrates, spread out after Noah’s flood. After the flood, during the time when animals were spreading out from the Ark, storms, local floods and land upheavals would have ripped up trees and other vegetation, which would have carried any small creatures living amongst it along rivers to the sea. Reptiles can survive for many months without food, and can go into a dormant state in tough conditions. Therefore, they could survive on masses of vegetation and debris floating across the ocean to get to another continent. (Ref. reptiles, migration, biogeography)
Evidence News vol. 15, No. 6
29 April 2015
Creation Research Australia