New Dinosaur Found…That Burrowed Underground?
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, August 11, 2024
Creationists have long commented on
how dinosaurs were
created on Day 6—the same day as man—according to God in Genesis 1. Those who
believe in or have been influenced by the religion of secular humanism (and its
variants) disagree with this, proposing that man and dinosaurs are separated by
millions of alleged, unobserved years. Nevertheless, God’s Word reigns supreme
against arbitrary objections to His absolute Word.
Because there are
two different viewpoints about the past, there tend to be two different
interpretations of various dinosaur finds. This is why we must be discerning
when it comes to research that includes good observations but also incorporates
secular “storytelling,” which is common in reports, whether in news or
technical papers, in today’s culture.
The Fossil Find
This brings us to a new dinosaur fossil find. It is called Fona herzogae and was found in Utah. This dinosaur is part of the ornithischian kind. So, it is a new species within an existing kind. A news item on the dinosaur states:
“Found
in Utah by North Carolina State University researchers and paleontologists,
the Fona herzogae was a small-framed, plant-eating dinosaur
that lived in the Cenomanian age — about 100-66 million years ago.”[1]
Observable facts
about the fossil include (1) where it was found, (2) that it was small-framed,
and (3) who found it. However, the rest of this quote delves into
interpretation. We don’t know its full diet—it may have feasted on insects. Nor
do we know where it lived—what we do know is where it was buried as a result of
a catastrophe.
Furthermore, this
creature definitely didn’t live 100-66 million years ago when you start with
God who created all things a matter of thousands of years ago.
Instead, it died in the Flood and was deposited in what became rock
layers, which secular researchers misinterpret as 100-66 million
years old. These particular fossil layers were laid down at the same time and
are actually Flood sediment.
Fona herzogae—A New Species
in An Existing Kind
Nevertheless, it is a small dinosaur (small but long, being about 7 feet in length, including the tail), by the way dinosaurs are defined.[2] The article goes on to say:
“Avrahami
and his team also believe this new dino was a burrowing species, spending at
least part of its life underground.”[3]
The reasons for
this were first articulated by Varricchio and colleagues in 2007[4] for these types of dinosaurs, and a number
of researchers have discussed and expanded on the possibility of burrowing ever
since. With this new species find, and due to at least two fossils found
intertwined at one site (Mini Troll) and certain anatomical structures, the
possibility of burrowing was inferred. The idea of burrowing dinosaurs was
discussed in more detail in the technical report.[5]
In a nutshell, they
suspect that dinosaurs with limb morphologies similar to some burrowing mammals
might have had burrowing behaviors. This, as well as other suggestions based on
fossil study, is why they consider this creature (and those similar to it
within its kind) to be a possible burrower.
Dinosaurs Burrowing?
Is burrowing a reasonable habit for these dinosaurs before the Flood? It’s definitely a possibility. The researchers were careful not to be overly adamant (e.g., no burrows were found, for instance) but strongly leaned towards the idea of burrowing.[6] Based on their fossil assessments, I don’t think they were “grasping at straws” for this interpretation—they might be onto something. Without further evidence, I’m happy to leave this option open.
Bear in mind that
the Flood buried many creatures—most had already drowned and were even
disarticulated. But many others were likely still alive during their burial,
giving them a few moments of struggle to try to escape.
I would suspect
that many of these dinosaurs—if they didn’t die from the burial or the
brutality of the Flood waters already—would have tried to immediately dig their
way out, which could leave possible evidence of something like burrowing. A
lost cause, of course, as all these land-dwelling, air-breathing animals
outside the Ark of Noah died by the 150th day of the Flood.
It may be possible
to see this type of evidence in the future. Nevertheless, the researchers said
they found no evidence of burrowing at this stage. The idea of burrowing
strictly comes from fossil evidence.
Looking Back At Accounts—Dragon Legends
May Give Us A Clue
Interestingly, creationists have often pointed out the connection between dinosaurs and dragons (as have a few secularists as well). Some dinosaurs even have the name "dragon" in their name (e.g., Dragon of Qijiang, Dracorex Hogwartsia, and Dracopelta). Draco is the Latin name for dragon.
As a point of note,
all dinosaurs could rightly be classed as dragons, but not all dragons fit the
definition of a dinosaur. Dinosaurs are land animals with one of two hip
structures, whereas dragons also included sea and flying reptiles as well as
serpentine reptiles.
One thing we commonly find in ancient land dragon legends
(that creationists often discuss as the possible dinosaurs dying out after the
Flood) is that many tended to live near swamps and had burrows, lairs, or caves
to which they dug and lived. Consider the epic poem Beowulf, for
instance, where Grendel lived at the edges of a swamp and had a burrowed lair
that Beowulf had to enter to kill this menacing dragon. This particular dragon bore
a description that has an uncanny resemblance to a baryonyx with a heavy claw.
St. George famously killed a dragon living near a swamp in similar conditions.
The point is that there are historical reasons, within a
biblical understanding of the past, to think that some dinosaurs may have
burrowed or at least spent much time underground. So, finding a dinosaur with
fossil anatomical structures that were possibly used for burrowing is actually
expected—even within a biblical worldview.
[1] Jordan-Marie
Smith, A newly discovered dinosaur may have spent part of its life underground,
NPR, July 19, 2024, https://www.npr.org/2024/07/19/nx-s1-5046257/dinosaur-new-discovered-science-burrow.
[2] B.
Hodge, Dinosaurs, Dragons, and the Bible, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2023,
pp. 9-14.
[3]
Ibid.
[4] D.D.
Varricchio, A.J. Martin, and Y. Katsura, First trace and body fossil evidence of a
burrowing, denning dinosaur. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 274, 2007,
pp. 1–7.
[5] H.M.
Avrahami, P.J. Makovicky, R.T. Tucker, and L.E. Zanno, A new semi-fossorial
thescelosaurine dinosaur from the Cenomanian-age Mussentuchit Member of the
Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, The Anatomical Record, July 9, 2024, https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.25505.
[6]
Ibid.
