Leviathan: the Fire-Breathing Dragon: Kent Hovind [1 of 7]

This is a video series about the fire breathing dragons. It is a great topical creation science video. Enjoy watching.

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Mace Baker wrote the aritcle, “Sea Dragons – The Institute for Creation Research,” and here is the first portion of that article: 

For more than a thousand years ancient and medieval mariners often returned from their voyages with frightening tales of encounters with, or sightings of, large and dangerous sea monsters. These were amazing creatures, not only because of their size and ferocity, but also because they would at times break the surface of the water, indicating that they were actually air breathers. This, along with their unique anatomy, made it clear that these strange creatures were not a species of fish. It was soon recognized that they were some kind of unusual marine reptile. Consequently, they were often referred to as sea dragons. As time went by, fewer and fewer of these unique and fearsome creatures were seen. Eventually there were only the stories from olden days. Finally the stories themselves began to lose their credibility and were relegated to the realm of legends or mythology.

However, in the 1800s a young English girl, Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, England, discovered the fossil remains of some strange and very ancient marine animals. The pay she received from various paleontologists motivated her to keep looking. She found so many that she actually was able to make a living from the discovery and sale of these fossils. In time the fossils she found received their modern names of ichthyosaurs, meaning “fish lizards,” and plesiosaurs, meaning “near lizards.”

Since that time, hundreds of articulated ichthyosaur skeletons have been found, making it possible for us to know a good deal about these marine creatures. The first scientist to describe ichthyosaurs was Dr. William Buckland, professor of Geology at Oxford. Dr. Buckland had respect for God as Creator and spoke of the various unique aspects of the ichthyosaurs within the framework of intelligent design. We find that the ichthyosaur had large ear bones, indicating that they had a good sense of hearing. These ear bones were able to carry sound vibrations from both air and water to the inner ear. The eye sockets were very large, indicating that they may have hunted at dusk or in deeper water. In one specimen, the eye orbit was four inches in diameter. The eyeballs were surrounded by a ring of bones, the sclerotic ossicle, which probably protected their eyes when diving abruptly for prey. Buckland states, “. . . the preservation of this curiously constructed hoop of bony plates, shews that the enormous eye, of which they formed the front, was an optical instrument of varied and prodigious power, enabling the Ichthyosaurus to descry its prey at great or little distances, in the obscurity of night, and in the depths of the sea . . .” (William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, volume 1, William Pickering, 1836, p. 174.)

It has also been suggested that this ring of bones was useful for protecting the eye from being slapped by the small waves whenever they surfaced. They may have also given the eyes of the ichthyosaurs both microscopic and telescopic powers. “In living animals these bony plates are fixed in the exterior or sclerotic coat of the eye, and vary its scope of action, by altering the convexity of the cornea: by their retraction they press forward the front of the eye and convert it into a microscope; in resuming their position, when the eye is at rest, they convert it into a telescope.” (Ibid., p. 174.)

The snout was elongated which gave it a porpoise-like appearance. The long jaws were not composed of one long bone. If they had been, the lower jaw could have been fractured when the jaws had to snap shut on a squirming prey. Instead they were composed of several smaller bones. Dr. Buckland comments, “This contrivance in the lower jaw, to combine the greatest elasticity and strength with the smallest weight of materials, is similar to that adopted in binding together several parallel plates of elastic wood . . . to make a crossbow. . . . As in the . . . compound bow, so also in the compound jaw of the Ichthyosaurus, the plates are most numerous and strong, at the parts where the greatest strength is required to be exerted; and are thinner, and fewer, towards the extremities, where the service to be performed is less severe.” (Ibid., p. 176.)

*Mace Baker is the author of the book, The Real History of Dinosaurs (2001).