Leviathan: the Fire-Breathing Dragon: Kent Hovind [4 of 7]

Everybody is googling this subject today. Here is a biblical perspective:

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

One of the reasons that sea dragons were seen less frequently is because they were able to stay underwater for long periods of time made possible by the design of their ribs. The ribs of the right side were united to those of the left by a set of intermediate bones which came to be referenced as the “sterno-costal” arcs. “This structure was probably subservient to the purpose of introducing to their bodies an unusual quantity of air; the animal by this means being enabled to remain long beneath the water, without rising to the surface for the purpose of breathing.” (Ibid., p. 180.) Ichthyosaurs had both paddles (flippers) and fins. The fins probably were used for stabilization and steering and the paddles for lift, but neither were used for propulsion. This was accomplished by the tail, swishing back and forth rapidly which may have allowed it to swim at speeds up to 40 miles per hour.

Dr. Buckland commented that the design of these amazing creatures showed a “. . . union of compensative contrivances, so similar in their relations, so identical in their objects, and so perfect in the adaptation of each subordinate part, to the harmony and perfection of the whole; that we cannot but recognize throughout them all, the workings of one and the same eternal principle of Wisdom and Intelligence, presiding from first to last over the total fabric of the Creation.” (Ibid., p. 186.)

As competent paleontologists began to prepare and display these fossils, the more it became obvious that these creatures must have been fearsome predators of the ancient world’s warm, shallow seas. In fact, as more of these were reconstructed and displayed in museums, many began to wonder if they had been the terrible sea monsters the ancient and medieval mariners had talked about.

This latter suggestion, of course, has been ridiculed by many in the scientific community, because they insist that these fossils were found in rocks that date back millions of years. They believe that the ichthyosaurs as well as many other creatures found in the sedimentary rocks were buried slowly and gradually. For example, with regard to the ichthyosaurs, one popular book on this subject states, “This unusually fine fossil preservation is probably due to the bottom waters at Holzmaden being inhospitable to life because of the absence of oxygen. Any ichthyosaur dying and sinking to the sea floor would lie undisturbed because of the absence of scavengers (crabs, small fish, etc.) picking the body apart. Fine mud would eventually cover the carcass, recording the delicate skin as a dark silhouette.” (The Ultimate Dinosaur, Editors: Byron, Preiss and Robert Silverberg, October, 1992, p. 234.) But animals which are in the ocean today are eaten by predatators or disintegrate in the salty ocean water whether floating to the surface or sinking to the bottom. They do not fall to the sea floor to become slowly and gradually covered with fine mud. Many ichthyosaurs are very well preserved. This would necessitate rapid (catastrophic) burial. And, indeed, a great many of them suffered this fate, “Hundreds of beautifully preserved skeletons, with the bones still joined, or articulated, as in life, have been found.” (Steve Parker, The Encyclopedia of the Age of the Dinosaurs, 2000. p. 119.)

The fossil record indicates, not the uniformitarian, but the catastrophic nature of the burial and preservation of the sea dragons. This is evident from the discovery of at least two ichthyosaurs that were covered with sediment so rapidly that their offspring were fossilized in the process of giving birth. In addition to this, several have been found with their last meal still in the stomach area, including parts of pterosaurs!

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