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Dracorex—the dinosaur that looks like a dragonFor many years creationists have been making connections between dinosaurs and dragons.1, 2 However, dragons are often portrayed as having fanciful features like wings, bizarre horns and claws, and the ability to breathe fire. Enter the DragonSkeleton image from The Children’s Museum, dragon cartoon by Amanda Greenslade 
Dragons are often portrayed as having fanciful features like wings, bizarre horns and claws. In the case of Dracorex, it’s only a small stretch of the imagination to add wings; the rest of its body is already very much like a western dragon. Perhaps the reason why dragons are so popular in today’s mass media is because people once walked with dinosaurs like Dracorex! Say hello to Dracorex hogwartsia.3 It’s more eye-catching than most dinosaurs because it’s what most people imagine dragons looking like. Yet this is a real animal! The nearly complete skull along with several neck vertebrae was discovered in the Hell Creek formation4 in Northwest South Dakota, USA in May 2003 and subsequently donated to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.5 The name Dracorex hogwartsia comes from two very different sources. Dracorex, from the Latin meaning ‘dragon king’ and hogwartsia from author J.K. Rowling’s (disturbing to me) ‘Harry Potter’ series of children’s books after the fictional ‘Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry’. Dragon legendsIt is very possible, even highly likely, that many of the dragon legends that are known in some cultures are the distorted memories of when people lived with dinosaurs. However, in the case of Dracorex it seems that dragon legends may not have been greatly distorted from the real thing. Normally, if historical experiences are not written down, but passed orally from generation to generation, errors creep in. The pattern over time is that experience becomes memory, memory becomes legend, and legend becomes myth. The Gilgamesh epic is a great example of this.6 The tablets on which the story is written date to about 650bc.7 Noah’s Flood took place about 1700 years before that time. Although there are strong similarities between it and the biblical record, over that vast amount of time the details of the Flood were significantly distorted. On the other hand, the biblical record of the Flood was likely written by those who experienced it first hand—Noah’s family. Later, these written accounts were passed to Moses, who, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, assembled them and wrote the remainder of Genesis. The number of dinosaur kindsDracorex is most similar to Stygimoloch spinifer and Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis all of which are members of the Pachycephalosaurini ‘tribe’ within the Pachycephalosauria infraorder. Evolutionists have established elaborate classification systems for what they believe are many different ‘kinds’ of dinosaurs. According to a recent evolutionist study8, 530 genera of dinosaurs have been discovered and named (as of mid-2006) but there are an estimated total of around 1,800 genera of dinosaurs. So more than 70% have not yet been discovered. These numbers are based on evolutionary assumptions about (among other factors) the ‘incompleteness of the fossil record’ and dinosaur diversity during the various stages of the so-called ‘age of dinosaurs’, which supposedly lasted for about 180 million years. Without the evolutionary spin, the number of ‘branches’ on the family tree of dinosaurs drops dramatically, to perhaps around 50 different created kinds. Diversity within a kind can be very large within some groups like the Pachycephalosauria. Another group of animals with a large amount of variation is the (more familiar) dog kind. The ‘change within a kind’ that scientists observe, and which is an important part of the creation model, has nothing to do with ‘molecules-to-man’ evolution. Dracorex is yet another example of variation within a kind. The remarkable features observed in this variety of dinosaur make the link between dragon legends and real dinosaurs even more solid. They also make it look really cool! Further reading
Related Products
Dinosaurs & The Bible DVD Has anyone ever seen a real live dinosaur? Do dinosaurs prove that the Bible is wrong? What happened to the dinosaurs? A brilliant illustrated presentation that lets you find out the answers to the most-asked questions about dinosaurs, and why everyone should know about them. (High School–Adult) 52 mins. 
Dinosaurs by Design Dinosaurs are a tremendous teaching tool for creation, and have a lasting fascination for all ages. The presentation and interest level of this book surpass those of almost every secular/evolutionary dinosaur book available, from the enthralling detail provided on the lifestyle of individual types to the stunningly colourful, life-like illustrations. 
Dragons of the Deep: Ocean monsters past and present Sixteen spectacular sea giants, including the best candidate for Leviathan, feature in this stunningly illustrated book. Mighty predators like Liopleurodon, and the lesser-known sea serpent Styxosaurus probably inspired tales of sea dragons before they became extinct; the whale-wrestling colossal squid was thought to be mythical until its recent live discovery. Fantastic creatures and fascinating facts impart a thoroughly biblical worldview. References and notes
Published: 12 January 2007 (GMT+10) |
The pattern over time is that experience becomes memory, memory becomes legend, and legend becomes myth
