Dinosaurs explained biblically

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pteradactyls are not dinosaurs? Enlighten me.

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Nimlore,Pterosaurs are NOT dinosaurs, neither are plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, & icthyosaurs.The Dinosauria

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Not everything big and dead is a dinosaur. All too often books written for a popular audience include animals such as mammoths, mastodons, plesiosaurs, ichthyosaurs, and the sail-backed Dimetrodon. Dinosaurs are a specific subgroup of the archosaurs, a group that includes crocodiles and birds, whereas mammoths and mastodons are mammals. Other archosaurs included the pterosaurs, relatives of dinosaurs but not true dinosaurs. More distantly related to true dinosaurs were the marine plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs. These were marine reptiles, not dinosaurs or even close relatives of them. Dimetrodon is neither a reptile nor a mammal, but a basal synapsid -- that is, an early relative of the ancestors of mammals.

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Morphology of the Dinosauria

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What is the scientific diagnosis of what is a dinosaur, and what is just another archosaur? Several skeletal characteristics are currently used as diagnostic dinosaurian features. You may also view a large-screen picture (44K gif) of a dinosaur skeleton for a lesson in anatomy.

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Some basic dinosaurian modifications to the ancestral archosaurian skeleton: Reduced fourth and fifth digits on the manus (hand); pes (foot) reduced to 3 main toes; three or more vertebrae composing the sacrum (region of the vertebral column which attaches to the pelvis); and an open acetabulum (hip socket; see below). Some of these features were modified during the evolution of later groups, but these features are considered to be synapomorphies, or shared derived features, for the Dinosauria; the first dinosaurs had these features, and passed them on to their descendants.

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Hope this helps,Mark------------------
Occam's razor is not for shaving with.

Nimlore, [B][QUOTE] Concerning fossils and there construction.. everyone of them has to be made very quickly otherwise it is impossible for them to be made.. if a fish or a whale washes on shore and is not covered instananeously with the right amount of waters, minerals and what ever else than it fully decomposes... so the thought of any of them being covered by many thousands of years of sedimentary to fossilise can be scrapped. Correct me if I am wrong, but give me the scientific observation that can challenge that a fossil can be made in that way.[/B][/QUOTE]Incorrect.Fossils can be formed quickly or slowly, depending on conditions. In fact, there is no real requirement for decay to stop after fossilisation has begun, provided the organic material remains. In most cases fossilisation of, say, vertebrates, requires fairly rare conditions. That is, anoxic, dry, rapid burial, high concentrations of preserving molecules like hydrogen sulphide. Any of the above could allow for burial & subsequent mineralisation. The minerals don't have to be present "in the right amounts" at all, they can be brought in in dissolved form.For example, the fossilised mummy of Leonardo, a juvenile brachylophosaurus.http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/...Dinosaurs/leonardo/leonardo.html

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"Murphy theorized that the 22-foot brachylophosaurus died on a remote sandbar, inaccessible by predators, which might have scattered the remains. As a result, it dried out in the sun, which preserved its tissue in a leathery fashion until it was buried by earth and then fossilized. The impressions, known as trace fossils, occur when the dinosaur's skin mummifies and over time is replaced by minerals. They are so rare because the conditions had to be just right in terms of sediment and oxygen levels. Otherwise, the animal's soft tissue decays without leaving a trace."

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"Leonardo, the mummy Brachylophosaurus, under preparation at the Phillips County Museum. Head and neck in the foreground."The most important part of fossilisation is the prevention of decay for long enough, so as permineralisation can take place. Can a whale that has been washed up become fossilised? Almost certainly not.Mark------------------
Occam's razor is not for shaving with.[This message has been edited by mark24, 11-03-2002]