LARGER ORGANISMS IN THE PASTOften larger organisms are healthier and longer-lived than smaller specimens of the same kind. Certainly environmental factors (particularly nutrition) and genetic variations play an important role in determining a creature’s size and its lifespan. However, there are many creationists who believe that the larger ancestors of modern organisms (as seen in the fossil record) provide important evidence of decline in biological systems. Not only would the early earth have provided the optimal environment for healthy organisms, the plants and animals would not have suffered from the genetic deterioration that has accumulated since that time. In Romans 8:21-22 the Bible discusses the bondage to corrupting forces that were introduced with the fall and curse of Genesis 3. The Bible tells of a time when men lived to be many hundreds of years old, giants were common on the earth, and the human genome was able to withstand extensive in-breeding (multiple genetic bottlenecks). Even today some reptiles live longer than humans. (The tortoise Harriette that Charles Darwin brought back from the Galagapos islands is supposedly still alive at the ripe age of 169). If the terrible lizards also lived longer than the humans on the early earth, they would have survived for many centuries. Their longevity and reproductive capacity (as compared to mammals, etc.) could explain why the primeval world quickly became the "Age of Reptiles." The terrible lizards are certainly not the only creatures that grew to fantastic size on the early earth. A similar reptile, the crocodilian Sarcosuchus Imperator, grew to over 40 feet in length in length. (Note National Geographic sketch comparison.) Fossils found in what is now the desert of Niger tell of a hyper-crocodile that would have feasted on dinosaurs in what was then a verdant river valley. Fossil ferns have been discovered the size of trees and horsetails once shot up over thirty feet tall. There were cockroaches about two feet long, as well as crickets, grasshoppers and monstrous spiders that thrived in a land of endless summer. Dragonflies with a three foot wingspan skimmed over swamps in which eight-foot beavers and sixty-foot cattails flourished. Beetles once grew to be the size of a baseball mitt and climbed up conifers that towered a hundred feet high. The fossil record is replete with examples of immense creatures that flourished in the past. Huge rodents like the giant guinea pig grew as big as a modern rhinoceros while the ancient rhino grew as big as a two-story building. (Note the 18 feet tall rhino from the University of Nebraska Museum.) A picture of the giant Teratorn bird (Argentavis magnificens) is shown above, with its wingspan of 6-7m/20-25ft. Below are two of the fossils displayed at Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum: the skull of a giant salamander and horns of an ancient bison, measuring 8ft tip to tip. Also below is a huge turtle skeleton exhibited at the Yale Museum. The extinct Moa (Dinornus maximus) from New Zealand stood an incredible 3.7m/12ft tall. A giant short-faced bear skull found in South Dakota is one third bigger than today’s largest grizzlies. Massive centipedes, sharks, deer, kangaroo, cats, sloth, donkeys and mammoths have all been found in the fossil record. Even oysters once grew to 12 ft across, as shown above, from the approximately 500 fossils found high atop the Andes Mountains in Peru. The picture to the left is of artist William Munns and his recreation of the giant ape Gigantopithecus. Based on teeth and jaw fragments found in China, the great ape is thought to be 10-12 feet tall. Some people believe it still exist in the form of Big Foot. Further evidence of biological decline comes from a California company, Ambergene, which has recently patented a process of sterilizing amber samples, grinding them up, and then growing the ancient microbes found in it. The company has experienced some initial results that lead them to believe that these ancient microbes will yield more potent and powerful agricultural applications than modern-day descendants. They even isolated a yeast entombed in an ancient bee, grew it and found it very "active" as they brewed amber beer!