No doubt you have actually heard the claims from young earth creationists about living fossils. A “living fossil” is an organism that is believed to have actually been extinct, and after that it appears alive on world earth.

The claim by young earth creationists is that these living fossils are evidence that the earth is young. The thinking is that considering that all organisms lived just 4,300 years back, before the time that they date the Flood of Noah, then it is reasonable to presume that they are still alive today.

I’m sure everybody knows the most popular living fossil, the coelacanth, the fish believed to be extinct 65 million years back. In 1938, a specimen was captured off the coast of South Africa, and ever since a number of more have actually been captured and analyzed. Besides the coelacanth, Answers in Genesis provides a number of examples in the posts connected above.

Identifying an Organism’s Life Span

How is a fossil’s life variety is identified? When an organism is discovered in the fossil record, paleontologists search for the earliest and youngest specimen to identify it’s life variety. For instance, if the earliest specimen of a types of dinosaur remains in a rock development dated throughout the Berrasian Age of the early Cretaceous, then the earliest this dinosaur existed has to do with 140 million years back (140 Ma). If the youngest example of this exact same types is from the Turonian Age of the Late Cretaceous, then it died out about 90 million years back. Hence, the dinosaur is stated to have actually lived from 140 to 90 Ma.

After this date variety is released, another sample of this dinosaur is discovered in a rock bed dated to the Santonian Age of the Late Cretaceous. Does this imply the earlier dates were wrong … certainly. However the incorrect dates were not based upon uncertainty, however on an absence of total proof. Now, this dinosaur’s life-span is stated to be from 140 to 84 Ma.

Researchers make this type of modification all the time. New fossils are discovered, extending the recognized life expectancy of the organism because of brand-new fossil discoveries.

There is no technique or deceptiveness on the part of the researcher … he/she is simply analyzing the offered proof to reach a conclusion.

What occurs when a fossil types is discovered to be alive, such as the coelacanth? It’s understood life-span is extended … that’s it! It does not’ suggest the earth is young, it does not even offer great proof for a young earth. For the coelacanth, its life expectancy was extended from 400-65 million years ago to 400 Ma to today. Absolutely nothing even more can be indicated from this information.

When it comes to our dinosaur, if it was discovered alive today, naturally the young earth creationists would declare it is a living fossil. The genuine clinical world would simply change its life-span to 140 Ma to today. There would be no panic in the clinical world … they would not question if the earth actually is just 6,000 years of ages. The remainder of the proof plainly suggests an old earth, and one living dino would not oppose that.

The existence of a living fossil in no other way is proof for a young earth. Yes, there are fossils that sometimes show up living, however there are millions more which are long gone, which went extinct countless years back, and there is no proof they live today. For that reason, we have countless extinct types, and a handful of so-called “living fossils” which have a space of countless years in the fossil record. The proof highly supports countless years of termination, and an old earth.

When a “living fossil” is discovered, YECs naturally get on it and declare it as evidence of a young earth. Nevertheless, when they understand at this one straw and accentuate it, they are neglecting the 50 foot high haystack from where it originated from.