One of the beliefs of evolution is that dinosaurs evolved into birds.

There is a reason evolutionists went down this road and its based on a little known fact about dinosaurs — and oddly it’s one that supports the Biblical record on what ended the dinosaur era.

The paleontological record shows that dinosaurs started shrinking in size. This was the conclusion of a study by a group of scientists from Oxford University.

Reporting on their research, The Telegraph writes:

 “A study of the evolution of 426 dinosaur species over millions of years revealed that dinosaurs gradually became smaller in size until they evolved into birds….

The scientists found that dinosaurs underwent rapid changes in body size shortly after they first appeared…”

I believe the Bible supports the shrinkage, but doesn’t support a 7.5 ton T-Rex turning into a humming-bird.

The millions of years involved are also contentious. Considering they are finding many dinosaur bones with soft tissue (non-fossilized) material in them such as blood vessels and cartilage, it shows these bones are not millions of years old as evolutionists want us to believe.

Gigantic animals

Another unusual fact that plays into this discussion is the discovery of giant mammals.

A few years back, they found the remains of an eight-foot beaver in the Yukon, a territory in Northern Canada. It was the size of a black bear and came with six-inch incisors. Compare that to modern beavers that are 3′ to 4′ long.

At the opposite end of the world, they dug up the remains of giant Kangaroos over 10′ tall in Australia. It is known they were hunted by Aborigines. Today’s kangaroos grow to about 6′ tall.

So why did these animals grow so large? Well there is a simple explanation.

Kangaroos and beavers are among a select group of mammals that grow until they die. So a reasonable explanation for giant kangaroos and bear-sized beavers is at one time they lived longer than they do today.

But beavers and kangaroos are not alone. Most reptiles and fish and many amphibians also grow until they die.

Are dinosaurs simply gigantic reptiles?

With the large variety of lizards in the world its tough to nail down their life span. Five to seven years is probably an average, with some living to 50.

The Basilisk group of lizards, common to the Americas, live upwards of seven years and can grow up to two and a half feet in size. They are interesting as some have a large fin on their back similar to the Dimetrodon (see image at beginning of this article). According to evolutionary theory, Dimetrodons are not officially a dinosaur and actually showed up and went extinct millions of years before the dinosaurs appeared on the scene.

Some of this group are able to run on their hind legs such as the Jesus Lizard in Central America — named because of its ability to run across the water on its hind legs. The Collared lizard also runs on its hind legs when chasing prey. Wikipedia described the lizard found in the American southwest this way:

“They are well known for the ability to run on their hind legs, looking like small theropod dinosaurs.”

A lizard that looks like a mini-dinosaur — I wonder how that happened?

Compare this to the poisonous Komodo Dragon — the world’s largest lizard. Found on the Indonesian Islands they can exceed 10′ (3.13 meters) and weigh 370 pounds (166 kgs). So why are Komodo Dragons so large? There is a simple explanation, they live to 50 years of age.

So how large would the Jesus Lizard grow if it lived 50 years — 25′ — provided it grew at the same rate until it died. The collared lizard would be about half the size. How big would they grow if they lived for 75 or even a 100 years?

It is interesting because the Bible records a time when creatures lived longer, then points to a day when God purposefully shortened their lifespans.

God reduces lifespans

In the first six chapters of Genesis, we read of three judgements that God put upon the earth. Most of us are familiar with two of them. Death was introduced into the world after Adam and Eve’s sin  (Genesis 3:17-19) and of course there was the flood (Genesis 6).

Though God had judged the world with death, before the flood people still lived very long lives — Methuselah lived 969 years (Genesis 5:27), Lamech 777 years (v 31) and Jared 962 years (v 20) as examples.

However, tucked in the flood account there is a third judgment that never receives the same press as the flood:

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (v 3 NASV)

In this third judgement, God limits mans’ life span to a maximum of 120 years.

In his column, Odd Body — published in the National Post — Dr. Stephen Juan confirmed this 120 year limit. Addressing the issue of old age, Dr. Juan said, “Some cell biologists now believe there is a definite limit to human cell reproduction making the maximum age possible for human life to be about 110 to 120 years.”

Immediately after the flood, this judgement came into effect. Over the next few hundred years, there was a gradual reduction in human life spans.

• Reu (Genesis 11:21) lived 207 years
• Serug (11:22) 200 years
• Abraham (Genesis 25:7) lived 175 years
• Isaac (Genesis 35:27-29) lived 180 years
• Joseph (Genesis 50:26) lived for 110 years and from this point on lifespans fall under the 120 year benchmark.

But did this judgement also shorten the life span of reptiles, animals and fish? I suggest it did, simply because the two previous judgements affected animals and humans alike, so it is reasonable to presume the third did as well.

When Adam and Eve sinned, the whole earth was corrupted and death was the result and even though animals were not explicitly mentioned they were also affected both by the act of sin and the death that followed (Genesis 6: 11-12).

And of course in the flood animals and reptiles were judged along with humans.

A gradual reduction in age and size of reptiles

Like humans, after the flood animals and reptiles experienced a gradual reduction in life span and for those that grow until they die, there was a corresponding reduction in size.

It took a few centuries for this change to work its way through and that is exactly what paleontologists discovered. They have noticed a gradual reduction in the size of dinosaurs.

But during this transition period, humans would have still run into some very large animals and perhaps the odd huge reptiles. Some have suggested that the ancient reference to dragons throughout history are simply descriptions of mans’ encounters with super-sized reptiles.

 Related:

• Extraordinary dinosaur find challenges evolution: Opentheword
• Problems with the theory of evolution mount as more soft tissue discovered in fossilized bones: Opentheword

Read more:

• Dinosaurs are alive and well: The Telegraph
• Growing and growing and growing and…: Moments in Science
• Giant Beaver: Nature
• Giant Kangaroos Killed 40,000 Years Ago by a Severe Drought, Not by Ancient Aborigines: Softpedia