Invasion of the Giant Lizards | The Institute for Creation Research

Invasion of the Giant Lizards
We are already contending with the COVID-19 virus and the recent spate of murder hornets in the Pacific Northwest, but now sobering news coming out of Georgia sounds like a B-level horror movie. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a large invasive lizard—hailing from Guiana to Uruguay in South America—has now been discovered in areas of south Florida and two Georgia counties.

The squat-bodied ugly creature is called the Argentine white and black Tegu (Salvator merianae) of the family Teiidae. Like most invasive species, it is threatening native animals in Georgia.1 These include gopher tortoises, turkeys, quail, and even the formidable American alligator. The Tegu is a ground-dweller that shelters in burrows found in mixed woodlands and grasslands.

The Tegu can multiply quickly, weighs about 10 pounds, and may get up to 4 feet long. It has large and powerful limbs with sharp claws, a long tail, and a long forked tongue.

Tegus are similar to monitor lizards (family Varanidae), but evolution theory states they are only distantly related. Their similarities are attributed to the strange idea of convergent evolution which is “similarity between two organisms…due to independent evolution along similar lines rather than descent from a common ancestor.”2 Convergence has always been a slippery term that is difficult to quantify.

Invoking convergent evolution negates the very logic of the argument from homology, which affirms that similarity implies common ancestry, except—we now learn—in those many, many cases when it does not.3

Creationists see the Tegu as a member of the created kind of lizards (the Squamata, the largest order of reptiles) that have moved in and filled a host of ecological niches since the Flood. As always, the fossil record shows that squamates have always been squamates.

References
1. Argentine Black and White Tegus. Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division. Posted on georgiawildlife.com, accessed May 27, 2020.
2. Lawrence, E. 2011. Henderson’s Dictionary of Biology. New York: Pearson Education Limited, 142. See also Bethell, T. 2017. Chapter 10. In Darwin’s House of Cards. Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute Press.
3. Meyer, S. 2013. Darwin’s Doubt. New York: HarperOne, 133.

*Mr. Frank Sherwin is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and earned his master’s degree in invertebrate zoology from the University of Northern Colorado.
The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Homo Naledi: The Lies Behind Evolution's Rising Star | The Creation...
Homo naledi, once evolution's 'rising star,' was considered to be a prime example of human evolution. But is it really proof? Or...

NEWS
A Subsurface Ocean on Mimas?
Scientists have analyzed data obtained from the Cassini spacecraft and concluded that irregularities in the orbit of Saturn’s moon Mimas indicate...

NEWS
In Theaters March 20 & 21: The Ark and the Darkness
Is Genesis true? What about Noah’s Flood? How did Noah fit the animals on the ark? Wasn’t it a local flood? Have you asked these questions? Though...

NEWS
Enigmatic Fossil Plants
The pre-Flood world thousands of years ago was unlike the world of today.1 Unfamiliar animals and plants were common, and there were a lot...

NEWS
Surprisingly Colorful Fossil Snail Shells
Finding organic compounds such as flexible dinosaur collagen and complete bone cells1,2 is becoming common, much to the shock and consternation...

NEWS
March 2024 ICR Wallpaper
"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said." (Matthew 28:6 NKJV) ICR March 2024 wallpaper is now available for mobile, tablet,...

CREATION PODCAST
Homo Erectus: The Shocking Truth About the "Ape Man"...
Homo erectus, or "Upright Man," has been upheld as a piece of mankind's "evolutionary history" since its discovery in 1891....

NEWS
Mystery of Moths' Warning Sound
Insects of all types continue to amaze entomologists with their design and physiology. Cleveland Hickman, Jr., et al. stated, “insect ears are...

NEWS
Geneticist Fired for Affirming Humans Once Lived 900 Years?
Geneticist Alexander Kudryavtsev, the head of the Russian Academy of Science’s Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, has been fired, reportedly...

ACTS & FACTS
Creation Kids: Solar Eclipses
Designed by Susan Windsor* You're never too young to be a creation scientist and explore our Creator's world. Kids, discover fun facts...