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Kirsti Davidson

Ms. Krachenfels

English 11

June 6, 2010

What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs have fascinated people for years. They are featured in movies such as

Jurassic Park, are plastered across the news and media, and some have even been turned

into cuddly stuffed animals. But what is it about this huge, carnivorous monster that is so

enticing to us? There is a sense of mystery attached to dinosaurs. What were they like?

When did they go extinct? Why did they die out? Dinosaurs and their extinction are a

mystery in today’s world (Ham 169). So what did really happen to the dinosaurs?

According to evolutionary scientists, dinosaurs evolved from other reptiles around

235 million years ago as part of the Mesozoic Era (Ham 155). They were an extremely

successful group of animals that are said to have dominated the Earth and were the top of

the food chain for over 170 million years. If these dinosaurs were the prevailing creature

and had thrived for so long, why would they go extinct? Many feel that it doesn’t make

sense for them to die out of natural causes such as lack of food, increased predation (they

were at the top of the food chain), climate change, or destruction of habitat unless some

global catastrophic event took place. The fossils of most of the dinosaur bones, along

with many other types of animals, are grouped together in close layers of strata, meaning

that lots of them died at the same time, or as a result of the same catastrophic event. One

proposed explanation of extinction is the impact of an asteroid or comet (Ham 149-150).

This “impact theory” started gaining popularity in the 1980’s (Taylor 64). Its

hypothesis is based on the fact that a high amount of the element iridium is found in the
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rock layers that contain many dinosaur fossils. Evolutionists assign the layers of rocks in

the Earth’s crust to coordinate with the evolutionary time scale, meaning fossils found in

the rock layer associated with the Mesozoic Era, for example, would be dated from that

time period. Where the Cretaceous Period (abbreviated as K) and the Tertiary Period rock

layer (abbreviated as T) meet is know as the KT boundary (Taylor 65). Most, but not all,

dinosaur fossils are found underneath the KT boundary. This is referred to as an

extinction event, when a number of organisms appear to be missing in one layer of rocks

but are present in the layer right below that. Rocks samples taken from this KT boundary

have an unexpectedly high concentration of iridium in them. Iridium is an uncommon and

very heavy element. Evolutionary scientists, assuming that the Earth is 4.5 billions years

old, concluded that the iridium could not be from the Earth, as it should have sunk to the

core over the millions of years. They then hypothesized that since asteroids contain

iridium, the iridium could have come from an asteroid impact to the Earth. These

scientists went on to say that this large impact would have caused global destruction,

sending a dust cloud into the atmosphere, blocking the sun, and causing slightly cooler

temperatures that the dinosaurs could not adapt to (Taylor 65).

In 1990, formations were found in Chicxulub, Mexico, that appeared to be the

“remnants of a very large impact crater” (Taylor 65). The crater remnant is approximately

110 miles in diameter, and this size of crater would have been caused by an asteroid or

comet of about 6 miles in diameter (“Chicxulub Crater”). Scientists searching for more

evidence of their hypothesized impact theory immediately assumed this crater to be the

remnants of the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs (Taylor 65).

An impact of this size would cause a great deal of localized destruction to the area

surrounding the impact. A 110 mile crater caused by an asteroid of 6 miles in diameter
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sounds significantly large, but taking into account that the surface area of the Earth is

196,935,000 square miles (Chen) it seems unlikely that something inflicted on a mere

0.000056 % of the Earth’s surface could cause world wide damage1. This is

proportionally the same as saying that the impact of a piano2, 3 creating a crater the size of

about half a football field4 would cause destruction to the whole state of Virginia. It is

also proportionate to an M&M mini, or 0.03 inches, hitting the City of Salem5, 6. If a mini

M&M crashed into the parking lot of the Salem Civic Center, even if it was going

extremely fast, it doesn’t seem like the students of Salem High School would be too

worried about any effects of that impact from all the way across town.

The main problem with the “Impact Theory” is that there is too much iridium. It is

known that asteroids contain some amount of the element, but it wouldn’t spread out

upon impact. “The iridium anomaly, or spike, has been found all over the world in layers

of rock” (Richmond). It especially couldn’t spread all over the world (Taylor 65). An

alternative explanation to the iridium is that it is from volcanoes. Volcanoes do produce a

significant amount of iridium and can easily spread it out through lava (Taylor 66).

The idea that the iridium was the result of volcanic eruptions is supported greatly

by a global flood. In a massive worldwide flood, “all the foundations of the great deep

[would be] broken up” (Genesis 7:11). The breaking up of the Earth’s crust would cause

an unprecedented amount of simultaneous volcanoes to erupt all over the Earth, easily

explaining the iridium (Taylor 66).

1
110 miles2 of crater/196,935,000 miles2 of the Earth’s surface x 100 = .000056%
2
The State of Virginia has a surface area of 42, 769 mi2 (“Virginia”).
3
6mi2 / 196,935,000 mi2 = x / 42,769mi2. x = 0.0013 mi = 6.9ft2
4
6mi2 / 110mi2 = 6.9ft2 / x. x = 126.5ft2 = 42yd2
5
The City of Salem has a surface area of 15 mi2 (“Virginia Cities and Towns”).
6
6mi2 / 196,935,000mi2 = x / 15mi2 . x = 4.57x10-9 mi2 = 0.03in2
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A global flood is also supported by the fact that the same rapidly deposited

sediment layers are spread across vast areas. The exposed rock layers of the Grand

Canyon can be traced all across North America, showing evidence that is was deposited

rapidly and all at once. There is slight or no erosion between these strata layers, providing

the argument that there wasn’t any long period of time between the depositing of the

layers of sediment (Snelling 81). Also, there are fossils of sea creatures, such as that of

ammonites (coiled marine gastropods), found high on the Himalayan mountain range.

How could a marine fossil be found 20, 029 feet above sea level unless the whole earth

was covered by water at one time (Snelling 93)?

Today we are able to find lots of perfectly preserved fossils; even whole dinosaur

skeletons have been found. “Fossil formation requires a sudden burial. When an animal

dies, it usually gets eaten or decays until there is nothing left. To form a fossil, unique

conditions are required to preserve the animal and replace it with minerals” (Ham 166).

The flood brings great explanation to how and why so many fossils were formed.

Fossils of all the ten layers that are supposed to represent the evolutionary time

scale are only found in correct sequence in less than 1% of the Earth’s crust. Scientists

have determined that in order to account for over four billion years of the Earth’s history,

the geologic column should be at least 100 miles thick. At best, they have found areas

where the column is about 16 miles deep while the average depth is only about one mile.

In a very few amount of locations, paleontologists have found the fossils in the order of

the evolutionary time scale: small sea creatures, then free swimming fish, leading to land

dwelling animals, and then birds. But, if this were the true evolutionary time scale then

they wouldn’t find all of these fossils buried within just a few miles depth of each other.
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They should be miles and miles apart because they were supposedly separated by

millions and millions of years (Woodmorappe).

The evolutionary time scale also claims that it goes from simplest to more

complex creatures, when, in fact, fish are just as complex as any land creature. Instead,

this order of marine sessile, to free swimming fish, to land dwelling creatures, and then to

birds simply follows the order of the habitats in which they live. “Imagine a bulldozer

rapidly covering a duck pond with soil. The organisms in the pond would be buried in

sequence. The bottom dwelling worms and snails would be at the bottom. The fish would

be somewhat higher, and the ducks would be on top. The sequence would represent

where the animals lived—not the order they evolved in. The same holds true for the fossil

record” (Veith). In the event of the flood the “animals that were already at the bottom of

the sea would be the first to be buried in the mud slides etc. caused by the flood.

Dinosaurs, mammals, and man would be able to flee to higher grounds (only to be buried

later). And birds would be on the higher levels because they would have the best chance

of staying alive in a flood” (“What caused the Dinosaurs to become extinct?”).

Fossils that scientists find, such as dinosaur fossils, are dated using radioactive

dating methods. One of these is the carbon – 14 (14C) dating method. The element of

carbon has an atomic number of six, meaning that in its usual state it contains six protons

(P) and six neutrons (N). This gives it an atomic mass of 12 (6P+6N=12) and thus we

refer it as carbon – 12 (12C). But, carbon has three different isotopes, or 3 different

variations of carbon that contain different numbers of neutrons. Carbon – 13 has 6

protons and 7 neutrons (6P + 7N = 13). And Carbon – 14 has 6 protons and 8 neutrons

(6P + 8N = 14) (Riddle 78).

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Unlike 12C and 13C, 14C is unstable and will radioactively decay overtime. This

process, called beta decay, occurs when one of the neutrons in 14C is converted into a

proton, creating a new element. This new element, which now contains 7 protons (6P +

1P = 7P) and 7 neutrons (8N – 1N = 7N), is a nitrogen atom. So, 14C atoms are constantly

decaying into nitrogen, but more carbon – 14 atoms are also constantly being produced.

Neutrons from fragmented atoms collide with Nitrogen as a result of cosmic rays

colliding with atoms in the atmosphere. This causes the Nitrogen atom to convert one of

its protons into a neutron, leaving it with 6 protons and 8 neutrons. This is how 14C is

produced (Riddle 80).

Carbon – 12, the normal carbon atom, and 14C, an isotope of 12C, both behave the

same way in the atmosphere. Both forms of carbon attach onto oxygen molecules to form

CO2. Plants then take in CO2 as part of photosynthesis, and all other living things, either

directly of indirectly, eat plants as a source of energy. This means that all living things

will contain the same ratio of 12C to 14C that is in the atmosphere at that time. When an

organism dies it stops taking in carbon. The 12C level will remain the same since it is

stable, but the 14C will begin to decay (Riddle 81).

Carbon – 14 has a half-life of 5,730 years. As an example, a jar with all 14C atoms

at time zero will contain only half of the 14C atoms after one half-life of 5,730 years (the

other half will be nitrogen as a result of the beta decay). After 11, 460 years (2 half-lives)

the jar will contain half of a half, or ¼, of the original amount carbon atoms and ¾ of it

will be nitrogen (Riddle 82).

The current ratio of 12C to 14C in the atmosphere is one 14C atom for every 1

trillion 12C atoms. Assuming the ratio of 14C to 12C has always been this number,

scientists could determine the starting amount of 14C that was in the organism when it
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died by doing a simple proportion calculation. By knowing the half-life of 14C, the

current amount of 14C in the fossil, and the starting amount of 14C, scientists could date a

fossil to about 80,000 years. But, if the ratio of 12C to 14C was not the same when the

organism died as it is now, then scientists would have no way of determining the starting

amount of 14C, and therefore have no way of knowing the exact age of the fossil (Riddle

82).

For the ratio of 14C to 12C to remain constant, it means that it would be in a state

of equilibrium. To be in equilibrium, the amount of 14C being produced must be equal to

the amount being removed. Dr. Willard Libby, the developer of the carbon – 14 dating

method, “calculated that if the Earth started with no 14C in the atmosphere, it would take

up to 30,000 years to build up to a steady state of equilibrium” (Riddle 83). Dr. Libby

also noted that the atmosphere does not currently appear to be in this steady state of 14C

production and decay. “The Specific Production Rate (SPR) of 14C is 18.8 atoms per

gram of total carbon per minute. The Specific Decay Rate (SDR) is known to be only

16.1 disintegrations per gram per minute” (Riddle 83). If it would take only 30,000 years

to reach this state of equilibrium and our present day Earth has yet to reach that steady

state, it strongly suggests that the Earth cannot be more than 30,000 years old (Riddle

83).

The Earth also has a magnetic field around it to protect it from radiation. The

stronger this field, the less cosmic ray collisions there would be, resulting in a smaller

amount of 14C production. In 1845, German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss started

tracking the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field. Based on his calculations and the

current strength of the field, we know that this magnetic field is about 10% weaker now

than in 1845 (Riddle 83). A stronger field in the past would mean more 14C production
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than present day. If the 14C product rate in the past was less, “the dates given using 14C

dating method would incorrectly assume that more 14C had decayed out of a specimen

than what has actually occurred” (Riddle 84). This would result in older dates than the

true age of a fossil.

A recent eight-year research project conducted in1997 by a team of eight

scientists called RATE (Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth), showed that coal

samples taken from the different layers in the geological column representing the

Cenozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleozoic periods all contained a measurable amount of 14C.

Since the half-life of 14C is relatively short “there should be no detectable 14C left after

about 100,000 years” (Riddle 85). Evolutionary scientists dated these coal samples to be

millions of years old. The average age given to all three coal samples by the RATE

research team, using the Carbon – 14 dating method, is about 50,000 years assuming the

ratio of 14C to 12C has remained constant. Knowing that the production rate of 14C was

less in the past, the realistic age of the coal would be just around 5,000 years old (Riddle

85).

Scientists at the University of Montana have found T. Rex bones, supposedly

dated to be over 65 million years old, that weren’t completely fossilized and even

contained measurable amounts of red blood cells and hemoglobin (“Dino Flesh from

Fossil Bone”). Blood cells cannot be preserved because they are made mostly of water.

They should have disintegrated over the course of at least a few thousand years, yet they

claim these fossils to be 65 million years old (Ham 162). More un-fossilized dinosaur

bones have also been found on the North Slope in Alaska. “These bones could not have

survived for millions of years un-mineralized” (Ham 163). These “fresh” dinosaur bones

provide strong evidence that dinosaurs are, in fact, not millions of years old but only
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thousands of years old. So, if dinosaurs were around a couple thousand years ago, that

means that people and dinosaurs could have lived together on Earth at the same time. If

this is true, why isn’t the word dinosaur found in any historical records?

Interestingly enough, the word “dinosaur” wasn’t even coined until 1841 by a

famous British anatomist named Sir Richard Owen (Ham 157). Earlier, in 1677, Dr.

Robert Plot discovered giant bones of a new creature no one had ever seen before. He

fittingly named the enormous animal as the Megalosaurus. In 1822, Dr. Mantel of

Sussex, England found another set of unusually large bones. Concluding that the

organism had similar features to that of a reptile, only on a much larger scale, he named

the organism an Iguanodon. When examining the bones of the Megalosaurus and the

Iguanodon, Sir Richard Owen concluded that these animals belonged to a unique group

of reptiles that were yet to be classified. He then coined the term “dinosaur” which is the

Greek term for “terrible lizard” (Ham 157).

Throughout history there are actually many accounts of dinosaur-like creatures. It

might sound crazy that dinosaurs would have lived together with people because they are

usually portrayed as such vicious creatures. While some were carnivores, such as the T-

rex, the majority of dinosaurs were vegetarian. The T-rex, for example, would prey on

and eat other dinosaurs so they didn’t pose a big danger to people (“Why the Dinosaurs

Died Out”). Lots of times these creatures resembling the dinosaurs we recognize today

are referred to as dragons. An ancient Sumerian story dating back to 2000 B.C. accounts

the adventures of a hero named Gilgamesh who single handedly slew a vicious dragon. It

is recorded that in 330 B.C. Alexander the Great found a tribe of Indian people who

“worshipped huge hissing reptiles that they kept in caves” (Ham 161). China is very

famous for its dragon tales, which are prominent all throughout their culture. The story of
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St. George, who slew a dragon that was living in a cave, is recognized greatly throughout

England. Also recorded is a tenth-century Irishman’s writing of his encounter with what

appears to have been a Stegosaurus (Ham 161). Furthermore, there are petroglyphs (cave

paintings) found in Native American caves that depict what look to be dinosaurs (Ham

171). There are also many accounts in the Bible of dinosaur like creatures including a

“great sea monster” (Genesis 1:21), “dragons in the water” (Psalm 74:15), and a “fiery

flying serpent” (Isaiah 30:6), just to name a few.

To quickly recap, there is a layer of iridium in the rock layer that can be explained

by volcanoes. The volcanic eruptions can be explained by a global flood. Fossil

formation is possible because of a rapid burial such as that of a global flood. The fossil

record only follows the order of “simple to complex” evolution in 1% of the Earth’s

surface. Since the C14 production and decay rate is not in equilibrium, the Earth can’t be

more than 30,000 years old. Coal that was supposed to be millions of years old contained

a measurable amount of carbon - 14 in it and is realistically dated to be about 5,000 years

old. Scientists found “fresh” dinosaur bones containing red blood cells and hemoglobin

in them. And, there are many accounts of dinosaur-like creatures, such as dragons, in

history, but we don’t see the word dinosaur because it wasn’t even used until 1841.

According to the book of Genesis, all land dwelling creatures, including the

dinosaurs and people, were created on the sixth day (Genesis 1:20-25). Dinosaurs, living

along side of people, thrived on Earth for about 2,000 years. Then, just as two of every

kind of land animal did, each different kind of dinosaurs boarded the Ark, two by two.

The rest were instantly killed, along with all other living creatures, and buried in the

Flood creating mostly all of the fossils that we have today. When the animals came off

the Ark to begin repopulating, they found themselves in a much harsher post-flood world.
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They were faced with a new climate, new habitat, and different food sources. Where

people had previously received all their required nourishment from plants, men were now

allowed to hunt animals for food, and even the air pressure of the atmosphere had

completely changed. The dinosaurs slowly died out over the course of the next 1,500 to

2,000 years, just as many, many other creatures did, due to these new changes that they

ultimately weren’t able to adapt to (Ham 151).

But could all the dinosaurs really have fit on the Ark? Contrary to popular belief,

the average size of a dinosaur, based on skeletons and bones found all over the Earth, is

just about the size of a sheep or pony. Only a select few of them, such as the

Brachiosaurus and the Apatosaurus, grew to be very large. The biggest fossil dinosaur

egg that has been found is about the size of a football, so the baby dinosaurs were

obviously rather small. They would have taken young animals on the Ark, not only to

conserve space and resources, but also so they would have a longer span of lifetime to

reproduce (Ham 167).

Some people still argue that the dinosaurs couldn’t fit on the Ark because there

are almost 1,000 different species of them. While there might be many species, there are

only about 50 “kinds” of dinosaurs. Many species can descend from one kind. For

example, there are a numerous amount of different cat species today that descended from

only a few kinds. Speciation occurs through the process of natural selection, which

allows for an organism to “select” between different genes. It draws from the genetic

information that is already present to help it adapt and survive better. A cat living in a

cold environment would most likely select the gene for long fur instead of short fur so it

will stay warmer, although, the cat already had the information for both fur lengths in its

DNA (Purdom 277). As you can see, this process does not create any new information
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and actually leads to a loss of genetic information. Speciation is when a certain kind of

animal becomes more and more specific. “It’s a downhill process, not involving an

upward increase in complexity” (Ham 168), which is required for molecule-to-man

evolution to occur.

Before the flood the average man lived to be around 900 years old. Recent studies

have shown that this is most likely because the air pressure prior to the flood was much

higher than it is in present day (“Windows of Heaven”). One way scientists are able to

study the effects of a greater air pressure is through Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO),

where “a person is placed in a pressurized chamber, and the air pressure is increased 1 to

2 times of normal sea level atmospheric pressure. Under the increased air pressure more

oxygen gets into the bloodstream. This process seems to accelerate healing of wounds,

promotes tissue repair, and even favorably affects metabolic rates and the performance of

the hormonal systems” (“Windows of Heaven”). The increased air pressure seems to

have an abundant number of health benefits, which would allow for the longer lifespan. If

people lived to be that old, animals would have a longer lifetime too. Reptiles are the

only group of animals that continue to grow as long as they live. The dinosaur fossils we

find today that are almost 30 feet tall are the dinosaurs that had lived the longest (Ham

167). After the flood, the air pressure lowered and man’s life span was to be no more than

120 years (Genesis 6:3), about seven times less than before. At this new approximate

lifespan, dinosaurs could now only grow to be five feet at the most. They would have lost

their dominating factor because they could no longer live as long or grow to be as large.

This is a main contributing factor to their extinction.

When the dinosaurs got off the Ark to repopulate, they didn’t immediately go

extinct after that because of the harsher post-flood environment. As we observe through
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modern wildlife, extinction is a gradual process where the population of an organism

decreases year after year until there are eventually none left. The massive amount of

fossils found buried at the same time, which most scientists recognize as the extinction of

the dinosaurs, isn’t an extinction event at all but an instant death event. All except two of

each kind were killed and buried in the flood, but they were then able to repopulate to a

certain degree until they eventually died out of natural environmental changes that were

brought about as a result of the global flood.

Everyone has the same facts to go by - the same fossils, the same bones, and the

same Earth. It’s the beliefs and presumptions one has that can cause different

interpretations of these facts. Dinosaurs are made out to be such a mystery in today’s

modern world, but their existence and extinction is actually very simple to explain.

Perhaps dinosaurs are only a mystery if you accept the questionable evolutionary story of

their history (Ham 149).

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Works Cited

“More on the ‘Windows of Heaven’ of Noah’s Flood.” The Bible Genesis and Geology.

1997-2010. Christian Geology Ministry. June 2010.

<http://www.kjvbible.org/windows_of_heaven.html>.

“Why the Dinosaurs Died Out.” Creation-Evolution Encyclopedia. 2006. Pathlights. June

2010. <http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/14flod05.htm>.

“Dino Flesh from Fossil Bone.” Science News for Kids. March 30, 2005. Society for

Science and the Public. June 2010.

<http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20050330/Note2.asp>.

“What caused the Dinosaurs to become extinct?” Jesus, Dinosaurs, and More. November

1997. June 2010. <http://www.angelfire.com/mi/dinosaurs/dinodeath.html>

Veith, Walter J., PhD. “Order in the Fossil Record.” March 2010. Amazing Discoveries.

June 2010. < http://amazingdiscoveries.org/AD-ChanceOrDesign-FossilRecord-

ExplosiveEvolutionOrderFossilRecord.html>.

Woodmorappe, John. “The Geologic Column: Does it Exist?” Exposing the Myth of

Evolution. 1999. The True Origin Archive. June 2010.

<http://www.trueorigin.org/geocolumn.asp>.

“Chicxulub Crater”. June 1, 2010. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. June 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater>.

Richmond, Elliot. “K/T Boundary.” 2002. Macmillan Reference USA. June 2010.

<http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ansc_03/ansc_03_00204.html>.
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Chen, Daniel. “Area of Earth’s Land Surface.” The Physics Factbook. Ed.Glenn Elert.

2001. Fair Use Websites. June 2010.

<http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/DanielChen.shtml>.

“Virginia.” Open-Site Foundation, Inc. June 2010. <http://open-

site.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Virginia>.

“Virginia Cities and Towns.” Bureau of Census. June 2010.

<http://www.virginiaplaces.org/vacities/index.html>.

Ham, Ken. The New Answers Book. 25 Top Questions on Creation/Evolution and the

Bible. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 2006.

Purdom, Georgia. The New Answers Book. 25 Top Questions on Creation/Evolution and

the Bible. Ed. Ken Ham. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 2006.

Riddle, Mike. The New Answers Book. 25 Top Questions on Creation/Evolution and the

Bible. Ed. Ken Ham. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 2006.

Taylor, Paul F. “Dinosaur Killer.” Answers Magazine. Vol.3 No.1. Jan.-Mar. 2008. 64-

66.

Snelling, Andrew A. “High and Dry Sea Creatures.” Answers Magazine. Vol. 3 No.1.

Jan.-Mar. 2008. 92-95.

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Addendum - Dinosaur Survey Results

Demographics of People Surveyed

Age: Religious Highest Level of Gender:

45%- 10-19 Affiliation: Education: 79% – Female
8%– 20-29 1% - Agnostic 1% – middle school 21% – Male
10% – 30-39 14% – Catholic 44% – high school
19% – 40-49 31% – Evangelical 39% - College Do you attend Church
17% – 50-59 44% - Protestant undergraduate regularly?
10% - Other 13% – college masters 83% – Yes
1%– College doctorate 17% – No

Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Did a catastrophic global flood take place?
29% - Asteroid Impact
39% - Natural Causes 88% - Yes 13% - No
26% - Harsher Post-flood environment
6% - Other
Were Dinosaurs on the ark?
How long ago did dinosaurs go extinct?
60% – 65 million years ago 35% - Yes 65% - No
32% – 4,500 years ago after the flood
8% - Other
Did Dinosaurs and people live at the same time?
When did Dinosaurs first live on the Earth?
40% – Created on the sixth day 6000 years ago 46% - Yes 54% - No
51% – Evolved 235 millions years ago

How did the earth come about? Does Natural selection provide evidence for
3% – The Earth was created by some Supreme Being. evolution?
17% – God created the earth initially, then evolution 50% - Yes 50% - No
took place.
31% – God created the Earth, but not in 6 literal days.
40% – God created the Earth and everything in it in 6
literal days. Are Natural Selection and Evolution
7% – Big Bang and Evolution essentially the same thing?
3% – Other 42% - Yes 58% - No

*The survey above was distributed to friends and family, with a total of 74 responses. Because of the
informal nature of the survey, a broad cross-section of people wasn’t attained. However, these finding
reflect an interesting range of attitudes and perspectives amongst our Salem Community.
*Original survey questions that were distributed are attached on the next page.
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Dinosaur Survey – for Kirsti Davidson’s 11th Grade research paper

(All information will be kept anonymous.)

Age ______ Gender – Male or Female

Highest level of Education__________ Religious Affiliation ________
Do you attend church regularly? Yes or No
What do you believe caused dinosaurs to go extinct?
A. The catastrophic impact of a comet or asteroid on the Earth, which caused a globally
colder climate.
B. Simple natural causes of extinction; the same reason an animal would go extinct in
present day.
C. The new, harsher Post-Flood environment, which included a different habit, climate,
atmosphere, and food sources.
D. They evolved into birds.
E. Other
How long ago do you believe dinosaurs went extinct?
A. About 65 million years ago long before people were around.
B. About 4,500 years ago after Noah’s flood.
C. Other

When do you believe dinosaurs first lived on the Earth?

A. They were created on the Sixth day along with the other land dwelling animals, about
6,000 years ago.
B. They first evolved around 235 million years ago during the Mesozoic Era.
C. Other

How do you believe the earth and all living creatures came about?
A. The earth and all living things were created by some Supreme Being.
B. God or a Supreme Being created the Earth initially making it able to sustain life.
Then evolution from simple one-celled organisms to the animals we know today took
place over millions of years.
C. God created the Earth and all living things, but not in 6 literal days. The earth could
still maybe be millions of years old.
D. God created the Earth and every living creature in it in 6 literal days.
E. The earth and all other planets resulted from an explosion or “Big Bang” of
primordial soup. Life forms eventually formed, evolving from the first single-celled
archebacteria to land dwelling creatures and eventually into people, over the course
of 4.5 billion years.
F. Other
Do you believe a catastrophic global flood took place? Yes or No
If so, do you believe that dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark? Yes or No
Do you believe that dinosaurs and people could have lived at the same time? Yes or No

Do you believe natural selection, which Darwin observed though the finches on
Galapagos Island, provides compelling evidence that evolution from one kind of animal
to another (such as amphibians evolving into dinosaurs) is possible?
Yes No
Do you think natural selection and evolution are essentially the same thing? Yes No
Davidson 18