How did the dinosaurs die?

“Dinosaurs” (deinos sauros, “fearfully great lizard”) were not known by that name until 1841, after hundreds of their fossilized remains had been discovered in the two decades prior.  Beings fitting their description as seen by their fossilized skeletons are mentioned in the Bible as being alive alongside of man.  They are called “behemoth” and “leviathan” (Job 40:15-19; 41:1-34).  This contradicts the commonly taught notion that dinosaurs existed and became extinct millions of years before man came on the scene.

Other evidence exists that points to the fact that dinosaurs and man co-existed.  In January, 2005, Nature Magazine by way of the Associated Press reported villagers finding “the preserved remains of a tiny dinosaur in the belly of a mammal, a startling discovery for scientists who have long believed early mammals couldn’t possibly attack and eat a dinosaur” due to evolution teaching that mammals arrived millions of years AFTER the dinosaurs.  In 1945 more than 30,000 clay dinosaur figurines were discovered buried in the foothills of the El Toro Mountain on the outskirts of Acambaro, Mexico.  They were carbon-dated to have been created from 1640 to 2000 B.C.  An 800-year-old Buddhist temple in Cambodia has the figure of a stegosaurus carved into its walls.  In the early 1900’s, archaeologist Dr. Samuel Hubbard found drawings of a dinosaur on the walls of some old Indian ruins in the Grand Canyon.

It is clear dinosaurs and man co-existed.  So what happened to them?  The global flood would have wiped out most of them, as it did with all other animal life (Gen. 7:20-22).  This explains the large number of fossilized remains which are found, including those found alongside of fossilized mammalian remains.  Yet Noah would have brought some dinosaurs onboard the ark (Gen. 7:13-16), thus ensuring their survival.  Infant to juvenile dinosaurs would have been the size of a cow and all animals were vegetarians at the time (Gen. 1:30), so their presence on the ark would have been possible and plausible.

After the flood, God allowed man to eat meat and put the fear of man into every living creature so they could be hunted for food (Gen. 9:1-3).  Over time, mankind killed off the dinosaurs either for food or sport, just as we have done to many other species of animals.  Also, the changes in the weather and global environment which came about as a result of the flood likely greatly affected these cold-blooded creatures, probably causing many of them to die off.