It should be quite obvious by now that our "knowledge" of dinosaurs isn't based on the most solid evidence. Most bones are found in jumbled piles, with many, many different animals being represented. As we said earlier, nearly complete specimens are extremely rare, which leaves us at the complete mercy of the person "reconstructing" the skeleton.

For example, when Gideon Mantell drew his reconstruction of the skeleton of the Iguanodon, he placed the "spike-like" object on the nose, similar to the rhinoceros horn. Later, this was proved to be wrong, but the misconception persisted for many years. They have since placed this "spike" as the thumb, but who knows- this could one day change, too.

But this problem of over-active imaginations didn't end with the old dinosaur-hunters. Take the example of Jim Jensen who only retired in 1985:

"But there were other problems with Jensen's naming of his giants. Though based on prepossessing fossils, those fossils are but fragments from a jumbled quarry. And they could only be contrasted with other fragments of already named but still only partially known dinosaurs." (Dinosaurs Rediscovered, p. 174.)

Today, everyone loves dinosaurs. But what we see in the museums and science books are not reality. Years ago, Ron remembers seeing a Life Magazine cover which featured a man holding a fossil tooth- the caption went something like this:

"From this single tooth, I can reconstruct an entire dinosaur..."

And that's closer to the truth than scientists would like to admit. When you go to the museum and view a "Triceratops" skeleton, it's only natural to believe that the skeleton is real, or at least a copy of a real skeleton, right? Think again, as we read this quote about them:

"And they are principally known from their skulls. Unlike the pattern for most dinosaurs, for ceratopsids skulls are relatively abundant, their postcranial remains are rare. Not one complete skeleton of the familiar Triceratops is known. (Ibid., p. 277.)

The bottom line is simply this- "dinosaurs" existed alongside all the other pre-flood animals, most of which were also giants (when they were full grown) compared to the animals of today. But, the fossil bones of the dinosaurs prove that they were animals of the same genuses we have today. Many may be species that no longer survive. But, the only real knowledge we have of them is scant.

Most of what you read as "fact" is actually the conjecture of those with vivid imaginations, always seeking to come up with something new and exciting. Yet, these are the very ones who scream the loudest that the Biblical account is the real theory. The real facts- the only ones we can depend on- are that these dinosaur bones are the fossil remains of animals of tremendous size; many of them reptiles which lived in an environment that allowed them to live hundreds of years, continuing to grow in size until their death. The presence of their fossilized bones in the water-laid strata bears the most incredible testimony to their utter destruction at the Hands of their Creator during the great flood.