Copyright 2001 G.R. Morton. This may be freely distributed as long as not changes are made and no monetary charges are made. (home.entouch.net/dmd/flee.htm)
Many creationists have tried to claim that the order of the fossils is due to hydrodynamic sorting, ecological zonation and the ability of an animal to flee from the rising waters. Whitcomb and Morris claim that mammals are on top of the geologic column because they were smarter than other animals and were able, therefore, to flee from the rising flood waters more intelligently.1 This, of course is silly as even humans wouldn't be able to flee from the rising waters by running hundreds of miles (say from Houston to New Mexico where there are mountains) in order to avoid a worldwide inundation.
That being said, I think it will be appropriate to illustrate the craziness of this idea by examining a few of the mammals that Whitcomb and Morris say should have been able to flee from the rising flood waters. My favorite is the glyptodont. This heavily armoured, giant ‘armadillo-type’ animal would have sunk to the bottom. Here is his picture (for a measure of size the camera was at my eye level about 5'6". you can see this thing is about 4 ft high):
“glyptotherium.jpg”
[Sarcastic mode on] Obviously one can clearly see that this animal with the heavy bone armour is perfectly adapted to running and swimming at extreme speeds. [sarcastic mode off]
The next speedy critter we need to consider is the giant sloth. Sloths are not known for their speed across the ground. There is no reason to think that the giant sloth was exceptionally rapid either. Here is what he looked like.
“giantsloth.jpg”
Those stubby back legs with the flat feet will not allow him to run very fast. Why isn't he found with the slow moving amphibians?
And last but not least, the Dodo bird, who couldn't fly and was too stupid to figure out that he needed to flee from man. Why is he found only in the uppermost layers of the geologic column?
"dodo.jpg"
It is patently absurd to believe that these animals could have fled from the rising waters and escaped burial. Creationists who believe such things are burying their head in the sand.
References
- Whitcomb and Morris, The Genesis Flood, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1961), p. 273-277.
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