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Dinosaur pursuit?
Fossils
are not only bones, but any remains of dead organisms, including tracks. A set
of dinosaur tracks along the bank of the Paluxy River, Central Texas, may tell
us something about how they walked and ran.
For example,
large mammals like elephants often land the hind foot on the spot the front
foot has left. This is possible because both feet on one side can be off the
ground at once. But modern reptiles move the diagonal legs together, that is,
the front right leg together with the hind left leg, and vice versa,
so its tracks are different. However, although dinosaurs were reptiles, the
tracks of large four-legged dinosaurs showed they moved much like living mammals
and not like living reptiles.
Also, modern
meat-eating mammals, when pursuing much larger prey, often match their stride
and speed before attacking. This minimises the relative motion of predator and
prey, and lessens the chance of injury. These tracks from Paluxy include those
of a theropod (two-legged carnivorous dinosaur) - maybe the 2-3 ton Acrocanthosaurus
„ running parallel to the much larger sauropod (huge four-legged dinosaur) -
maybe Pleurocoelus - and showing this pattern. There is also evidence
of a 'hop' by the carnivore and a drag mark by the herbivore, maybe indicating
an attack.
D.A. Thomas
and J.A. Farlow, 'Tracking a Dinosaur Attack', Scientific American 277(6):48-53,
December 1997.
- We weren't there,
so we can't know for sure (cf. Job. 38:4).
- The fossil record shows
death and sin, so must have formed after Adam's sin.
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