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
NEWS
June 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"From the rising of the sun to its going down the LORD's name is to be praised." Psalm 113:3 NKJV ICR June 2023 wallpaper is now available...

NEWS
Sauron Inhabits the Amazon
“The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat’s, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2023
...

CREATION PODCAST
I Have NO Credentials! | The Creation Podcast: Episode 50
Do you need a science degree to be a champion of creation? How do we communicate the truths of Scripture to our friends and family? The good news...

NEWS
Shark Jaws
Sharks are back in the news, and it’s in regard to their most formidable and fearsome structure—their jaws. Zoologists recently studied...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Established Day 4 | Creation.Live Podcast: Episode 13
Humans have long been fascinated by the night sky. As Psalm 19:1 reminds us, "The heavens declare the glory of God"—His creative signature...

NEWS
Physical Evidence Trumps Evolution Theory
One of the hallmarks of good science is to formulate a cogent theory based on the physical evidence. For example, if the physical evidence (e.g. a fossilized...

NEWS
Solar System Symmetries
Most all school children can recite the planets in our solar system using memory devices such as: “My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Names”...

NEWS
Does Iron Toast Union Rescue Long Ages?
The puzzle persists after all these years. On the one hand, biochemists perform decay rate studies that show biochemicals cannot last a million years...

CREATION PODCAST
The Industrious Efficiency of Bees | The Creation Podcast: Episode...
Bees? BEES! When it comes to these incredible insects, we often think of hives and honey—and stingers. But these little creatures are incredibly...