Dinosaurs

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

Who isn’t fascinated by dinosaurs and the other creatures that roamed our world throughout its history?

Since the first fossils were found, people have been asking questions about them and how they fit with the other questions we ask about the universe.

Take a look at some of these questions and see what you might find out about our world’s amazing living history and how it relates to our thinking about religious faith.

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

Who isn’t fascinated by dinosaurs and the other creatures that roamed our world throughout its history?

Since the first fossils were found, people have been asking questions about them and how they fit with the other questions we ask about the universe.

Take a look at some of these questions and see what you might find out about our world’s amazing living history and how it relates to our thinking about religious faith.

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

We find out about dinosaurs from things called fossils.

Fossils are made when, after an animal or plant dies, it gets buried by sand or mud. This protects its bones, teeth or other hard parts from things that might break or destroy them.

Over a very, very long time the sand or mud and bones, teeth or other parts can get squashed and changed and turn into a special rock called a fossil.

Sometimes, we can find these fossils buried in the ground or washed up on the beach. They tell us about animals and plants that lived long before any humans were alive!

When people first found dinosaur fossils they didn’t know what they were. Some people said they were dragons, other people thought they were giants!

Back when Queen Victoria was alive, scientists realised that these weird fossils were all part of one special family, which they called the dinosaur family.

We’ve learned a lot more about dinosaurs since then, but that’s where the name came from!

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

We find out about dinosaurs from fossils.

How fossils are made is really exciting! Sometimes after an animal or plant dies, it gets buried by materials like sand or mud. This protects its skeleton or other hard parts from things that might break or destroy them. Over a very, very long time the sand or mud can get squashed so much that it turns into rock. As water drips and trickles slowly through these rocks, it can dissolve the original skeleton or hard parts, just like sugar dissolves when you stir it into a cup of tea! The space left is then filled up by new rock, making a rock copy of the skeleton. This rock copy is called a fossil.

Sometimes, we can find these fossils buried in the ground or washed up on the beach. They tell us about animals and plants that lived hundreds of millions of years before any humans were alive!

There are reports of people discovering dinosaur fossils thousands of years ago. But for a long time people didn’t know what they had found. Some people in China thought they had found dragon bones, while people in Europe thought they’d found the bones of giants!

During the reign of Queen Victoria, scientists started to recognise that many of the mysterious fossils looked a bit like lizards and other modern reptiles. In 1842, one scientist recognised that three different types of these ancient ‘reptiles’ looked more alike to each other than to any other animals, so he decided to group them into what he called the dinosaur family.

We’ve learned a lot more about dinosaurs since then, but that’s where the name came from!

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

The Bible (the holy book that Christians read) wasn’t written to list all the animals on earth or tell us about science.

The Bible was written a long time before people started to use science to learn about the world. That means we shouldn’t expect the Bible to be full of scientific information or big lists of all the animals that have ever lived on earth. Even today, we still don’t know the full list!

When the Bible was written, people might have found some dinosaur fossils, but they didn’t know what they were or even have a name for them yet. And it’s not just dinosaurs that aren’t mentioned in the Bible, it doesn’t talk about armadillos, kangaroos, sabre-toothed cats or penguins either!

That doesn’t mean that the Bible is out of date or wrong, or that these animals aren’t important. Rather than teaching us science, many Christians believe that it was written to tell us about God, how much he loves all the people on Earth and the amazing things he has done.

The Bible says that God made everything, and loves everything he made, so that includes dinosaurs. It also encourages people to explore and find out all about the wonderful things God has made. Science is a part of this exploration.

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

To answer this question, we need to think carefully about the Bible (the holy book that Christians read) – who wrote it, when they wrote it, and why they wrote it.

The Bible was written a long time before people started to use science to learn more about the world. That means we shouldn’t expect the Bible to be full of scientific information or big lists of all the animals that have ever lived on earth. Even today, we still don’t know the full list!

When the Bible was written, people might have found some dinosaur fossils, but they didn’t know what they were or even have a name for them yet. And it’s not just dinosaurs that aren’t mentioned in the Bible, it doesn’t talk about armadillos, kangaroos, sabre-toothed cats or penguins either!

That doesn’t mean that the Bible is out of date or wrong, or that these animals aren’t important, because the Bible wasn’t written to list all the animals on earth. Rather than teaching us science, many Christians believe that it was written to tell us about God, how much he loves all the people on Earth and the amazing things he has done.

The Bible says that God made everything, and loves everything he made, so that includes dinosaurs. It also encourages people to explore and find out all about the wonderful things God has made. Science is a part of this exploration.

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

The Bible (the holy book that Christians read) says that God made everything. All the stars, the Earth and all the amazing plants and animals that have ever lived here.

So yes, most Christians believe that God made the dinosaurs!

The Bible also teaches that God loves it when we explore his creation, and science is a great way of doing that. So, for many Christians, science is one of the fun things we can use to learn all about how God made everything.

The word ‘evolution’ describes an important idea in science which helps us understand how living things came to be the way they are. Lots of Christians think that this helps us understand how God made all living things, including all of the dinosaurs.

Check out our Q&A section about evolution if you’d like to find out more about it.

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

The Bible (the holy book that Christians read) says that God made everything. All the stars, the Earth and all the amazing plants and animals that live here or have ever lived here. So yes, most Christians believe that God made the dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals!

The Bible also teaches that God loves it when people explore his creation, and science gives us a great way of doing that. We can use science to discover more and more about the physical world around us and, for Christians, this means science can help to uncover how God made everything, including the dinosaurs.

The special kind of science which explores dinosaurs and other prehistoric living things is called palaeontology (‘pay-lee-ent-ol-o-jee’) and scientists use the word ‘evolution’ to describe their best understanding of how all living things have developed.

Some people of faith worry that evolution might mean that God didn’t make everything, but actually lots of people agree that evolution is simply a description of how God has done that!

Check out our Q&A section about evolution if you’d like to find out more about it.

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

Most types of dinosaurs lived a very long time ago.

There were lots of different types of dinosaurs. Some were very big, some very small. Some were scaly and bumpy, some feathery and fluffy. Some ate plants, some ate meat or fish. They came in all sorts of different colours and might have made all kinds of different noises!

The first dinosaurs lived about 250 million years ago. But not all types of dinosaur lived on earth at the same time as each other. For example, T-Rex and Stegosaurus never met! They actually lived nearly 100 million years apart.

There were also lots of things living alongside the dinosaurs which were not dinosaurs themselves, like huge flying pterodactyls, swimming ichthyosaurs, a few fluffy mammals and lots and lots of insects!

Lots of the dinosaurs and these other animals died out about 65 million years ago. But some dinosaurs, the birds, are still alive today!

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

Most types of dinosaurs lived a very long time ago.

There were lots of different types of dinosaurs. Some were humongous, some tiny. Some were scaly and bumpy, some feathery and fluffy. Some were herbivores (ate plants), some were carnivores (ate meat or fish). They came in all sorts of different colours and might have made all kinds of different noises!

The first dinosaurs lived about 250 million years ago. But not all types of dinosaur lived on earth at the same time as each other. For example, T-Rex and Stegosaurus never met! They actually lived nearly 100 million years apart!

There were also lots of things living alongside the dinosaurs which were not dinosaurs themselves, like huge flying pterodactyls, swimming ichthyosaurs, a few fluffy mammals and lots and lots of insects!

Lots of the dinosaurs and these other animals died out about 65 million years ago. But some dinosaurs, the birds, are still alive today! That might sound surprising but science tells us that all birds, from eagles and ostriches to chickens and budgies are living dinosaurs!

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

Yes! But probably not the kind of dinosaur you’re thinking of!

Most of the dinosaurs we usually think of when we hear the word dinosaur, from Tyrannosaurus rex to Stegosaurus, died out a very, very long time ago, way before humans first lived. But some of the smaller, feathery dinosaurs survived and over a long time they have evolved into the animals we call birds.

So, from chickens and robins to penguins and ostriches, there are dinosaurs living all over our world today!

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

Yes! But probably not the kind of dinosaur you’re thinking of!

Most of the dinosaurs we usually think of when we hear the word dinosaur, from Stegosaurus to Parasaurolophus (para-sore-oh-loaf-us), had died out by around 65 million years ago, way before humans first lived. But some of the smaller, feathery dinosaurs survived and over a long time they have evolved into the group of animals we call birds.

So, from chickens and robins to penguins and ostriches, there are dinosaurs living all over our world today!  If you look closely at the birds in your garden or your pet budgie, you might just see the resemblance to T-rex and Velociraptor!

Answer (5 - 7 year olds)

Life on Earth is always changing. Sometimes big changes happen all at once!

A long, long time ago, lots of the living things on earth were wiped out, including most dinosaurs, and large reptiles like the swimming plesiosaurs (please-ee-oh-sores) and the flying pterosaurs (ter-oh-sores).

So many types of plants and animals died out that we call this a ‘mass extinction’ (‘extinction’ means that all of one type of animal died out, like Dodos or Woolly Mammoths, two extinct groups of animals).

Most scientists think this happened because a large space rock, called an asteroid, crashed into the earth. The big crash made a big mess, and some big changes, causing earthquakes, volcanoes and floods and even changing how warm the planet was. This meant that lots of animals and plants had nowhere good to live anymore.

The Bible (the holy book that Christians read) says God is good, so why didn’t he protect the Earth?

There have been 5 mass extinctions in the history of the planet. It might seem sad to think that God would let his creation get hurt. The Bible agrees that it is hard to understand but Christians believe it also says that the most important thing to know is that God really loves everything he has ever made, from you to the biggest dinosaur!

It’s good to remember that dinosaurs have lived on earth for hundreds of millions of years. And not all of the dinosaurs died out, birds are living dinosaurs which are still with us today!

Another good thing to know is how, after each mass extinction, lots of new types of plants and animals, including people like you, have filled up the earth again. These plants and animals might never have existed otherwise!

The Bible claims that God created the entire universe, and encourages people to explore and find out all about how it works. It also says that whatever happens, God always loves everything he has ever made, so Christians believe we can trust him even when we don’t understand everything yet.

Answer (7 - 11 year olds)

Life on Earth is always changing. Sometimes big changes happen all at once!

About 65 million years ago lots of the living things on earth were wiped out, including most dinosaurs, and large reptiles like the swimming plesiosaurs (please-ee-oh-sores) and the flying pterosaurs (ter-oh-sores).

So many types of plants and animals were killed that we call this a ‘mass extinction’ event (‘extinction’ means that all of one type of animals (like Dodos or Woolly Mammoths) died out.

Most scientists think this mass extinction happened because a large asteroid hit the earth. The big collision made a big mess, and some big changes that meant that lots of animals and plants had nowhere good to live anymore.

The Bible (the holy book that Christians read) says God is good, why didn’t He protect the Earth?

It might seem sad that God would let his creation get hurt. The Bible agrees that it is hard to understand.

It’s good to remember that dinosaurs have lived on earth for hundreds of millions of years. And not all of the dinosaurs died out, birds are living dinosaurs which are still with us today!

Another good thing to know is how, after each mass extinction, lots of new types of plants and animals, including people like you, have filled up the earth again. These plants and animals might never have existed otherwise!

The Bible also says that the most important thing to know is that God really loves everything he has ever made, from you to the biggest dinosaur! That means that Christians believe we can trust him even when we don’t understand everything yet.

To explore this question, and many more Big Questions, further you can read ‘101 Great Big Questions about God and Science’ – a fantastic book aimed at your age range.