Dinosaurs were Big Lizards• Why are their eggs so large?

– Dinosaur eggs were up to 30cm long– Crocodile eggs are ~12-13cm long – Clearly, dinosaurs were very much larger than crocs!

• Do reptiles actually continue growing?– Generally not, but they can if food is plentiful

• Changes in morphology.– Dinosaurs are not just large modern lizards– They have enormous physiological differences

• Dimetrodon back sails• Stegosaurus back spines• Prominent bipedalism of Tyrannosaurs, raptors etc.

Legendary Beasts• Lots of ancient stories talk about dragons

– Often breathing fire– There are pictorial representations

• There are many stories, paintings, carvings and statues of Apollo and Zeus too– Do you believe in them?

• Legends are not evidence– As our knowledge improves, legends tend to die out– There are legends of many fictional things

• Long-necked animals in ancient art?– Serpents– Llamas (!)– Giraffes

Fire Breathing• Is this possible?

– Possibly through a methane collection organ?– A series of tubes ending with a sphincter?– Some kind of spark generation?

• It’s highly unlikely

• What’s the point?– It seems like an unecessary ability– It seems like a highly ineffective ability– It’s irrelevant to the creationism debate

Peruvian Burial Stones• Ica stones

– Depict dinosaurs and machines

• Found by the town physician– Dr Javier Cabrera Darquea– Opened up a museum– Tried to make money from them

• Vicente Paris, 1998– Studied the engravings– Concluded that the stones were a hoax

• No scientific acceptance whatsoever– Zero evidence for their authenticity

1977 Creature• Pulled up in New Zealand, 1977• Japanese Trawler Zuiyo-Maru

• It was thrown back after short examination– Some samples were taken

• Was it a Plesiosaur?• July 26, 1977

– Prof Fujio Yasuda– Amino acid study of flesh– Concluded that the creature had been a shark

• Studies published in 1978– Franco-Japanese Oceanography Society– A collection of nine papers – Concluded strongly that the creature was a basking shark

Pictures of Basking Shark Carcasses

Basking Shark Carcass

Kaikoura, New Zealand

1996

Zuiyo-Maru Carcass

Kaikoura, New Zealand

1977

Nessie• Does Nessie exist?

– No

• There are lots of sightings!– …but no actual evidence

• Many studies:– 1934, 1967-8, 1969, 1970, 1972,

1975, 1993, 2001– Not a single shred of evidence

1934 photograph, later proven to be a

hoax

Randall Reinstedt

• “Shipwrecks & sea monsters of California's central coast”

• These have been shown to be:– Rare Whales– Basking Sharks

Human Remains from the Cretaceous?

• Dr. Jamie Gutierrez– Allegedly found fossil hands near an

icthyosaur

• I can’t find any papers on this– There are no legitimate scientific reports

• Anecdotal evidence– Can’t be used to form scientific theories

Paluxy River Tracks• Dinosaur and human tracks side-by-side?

– Claimed by Carl Baugh, amongst others

• Proven to be a combination of fraud and mistaken identification– Some tracks are artificial carvings– Some are eroded dinosaur tracks– Some don’t even look human!

• Even the ICR admits this!

Other Human Tracks• State Park Ledge

– Not actualy man tracks at all!

• The Baugh/McFall Sites – No convincing human tracks proved

• ‘Human footprints’ are usually either:– Natural erosion features– Eroded dinosaur tracks– Fraudulent

Likuoala Swamps• What’s the region like?

– Rich agriculture– Lumber, farming

• Could living dinosaurs be here?– No evidence from any of the inhabitants

• Except for a few tall tales– No bones, corpses– No photos, videos– No aerial photographs, satellite photos

• Stable breeding population?– Needs hundreds of individuals

Democratic Republic of the Congo