DINOSAURS
Wow! Aren't they great?

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WHO'S SEEN A LIVING DINOSAUR?

There's an ancient document (see end of this page) which describes a huge creature, the "behemoth".

The behemoth feeds on grass, but the description also says:

Could this be a dinosaur? (The word dinosaur means "terrible lizard"; the word "loins" means "thighs")

Do you think the description fits any of these dinosaur pictures?

To find out the name of each dinosaur, move your mouse over the picture.
Well, we can probably eliminate the a winged dinosaur - but look at the others . . .

• Compare the legs.
• What about the belly?
• Is the tail like a cedar tree?

A cedar tree was the biggest tree in the ancient world - and it still is. It is tall and strong and used for special buildings. Imagine a tail like that thrashing around!

Or can you think of another animal which it might be?

• If you're thinking about the animals pictured below,
  don't forget to compare the descriptions of the tail!

Elephant, Rhinocerous & Hippopotamus

The tail on all these animals is more like a twig from a little bush than the trunk of one of the world's biggest trees! And a hippo's strongest area is his head - not his belly and thighs.

On the other hand, take a look at the Sauropods. Sauropods are the biggest dinosaurs - they can be 30 metres long. They have four legs, a long neck - and amazingly powerful belly and thighs. Such powerful muscles had to be anchored to suitably massive bones under the hip region, otherwise the animal would just pull itself to pieces - and the overall bulk this produced was enormous. The most famous Sauropods are Apatosaurus (also known as Brachiosaurus) and Diplodocus. No other group of dinosaurs - or any other animal - is built like this.

They are also herbivores (they only eat vegetation). And their massive tails are very tree-like!

It makes you wonder.

So who has seen a living dinosaur?

Some scientists say that men and dinosaurs could not have lived at the same time. But if they are right, how could anyone be expected to "Look at the behemoth!" - or to recognise its description? The man hearing this careful description must have seen the behemoth!

Unless had he been told about the creature - by someone else who had seen it!

Some people might say it was just an old story, passed down through the generations - perhaps even a myth. Like the Loch Ness monster, perhaps. But if no-one had ever really seen such a creature, they must have imagined it. And some cave paintings show accurate pictures of dinosaurs, so the artists must have seen them. How could anyone in ancient times 'accidentally' invent a creature so very like a dinosaur - whose bones were only discovered and reconstructed about 150 years ago?

The ancient writer has more to say about the behemoth

• He is equally at home in the water
• He's more powerful than the flooding waters of a major river.

Under the lotus plants he lies,
hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
The lotuses conceal him in their shadow;
the poplars by the stream surround him.
When the river rages, he is not alarmed;
he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth.

An impressive creature! You can read more about Behemoth (encyclopedia entry).

NOTES:

The ancient document mentioned above (several times) is the Bible, and the section quoted shows God talking to a man called Job.

The Bible is an amazing read - and not just about dinosaurs! It's a collection of books full of true stories about real people whose lives and feelings wouldn't be out of place in a modern day soap opera. It's often incredibly accurate about scientific detail which scientists have only discovered quite recently - you do not have to abandon your intelligence when you read the Bible. But you don't need to be clever either - the Bible shows everyone, scientists, athletes and children, educated or not, how to know God. The God of the Bible who created elephants, rhinos, dinosaurs - and people.

If you would like to know more about the God of the Bible, check out the Knowing God page.