In Creation Research Society Quarterly. 61 (3): 172-188.

Abstract

Whatever factor or factors enabled extreme human longevity in the pre- and immediate post-Flood worlds likely also affected the animal kingdom. Thus, direct or indirect evidence for greater past animal longevity is also de facto evidence for greater past human longevity. The field of skeletochronology is making it possible to deduce information about the ontogenetic growth trajectories of giant fossil crocodilians such as Deinosuchus riograndensis (alternately, D. hatcheri) and Sarcosuchus imperator. Their growth curves indicate that these crocodilians grew for at least 50–60 years, a duration significantly greater than even the total typical 30-year lifespan of extant crocodilians. Moreover, a smoothed Deinosuchus growth curve published in the mainstream evolutionary literature suggests this age of 50 years likely significantly underestimates the true age at maturity. Given the evidence from longevity studies linking both larger adult body sizes and greater ages at maturation to greater longevity, the large adult body sizes of Deinosuchus and Sarcosuchus and their prolonged maturation intervals are indirect evidence of lifespans greater than extant crocodilians. Other giant fossil crocodilians, some of which may be direct ancestors of extant crocodilians, were also likely experiencing greater longevity. Moreover, the similarity of giant crocodilian body sizes in Cretaceous, Miocene, and Pliocene strata suggest that these crocodilians obtained their giant sizes under similar environmental conditions. This could suggest they all lived in the pre-Flood world and would be another argument for a ‘high’ Cenozoic Flood/post-Flood boundary.

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