Ankylosaurs are herbivorous dinosaurs found in flood rocks. They are classified in the reptilian order of Ornithischia or “bird-hipped” (having a hip design with ischium and pubis bones lying parallel and next to each other).

Their design is unique, with large and small bony shields (bony osteoderms) embedded in their skin and covering their sides and back. The small skulls have fused bony shields attached to the underlying bone. They had short legs, walking low to the ground, and resemble the look of a massive turtle. All told, these dinosaurs looked something like a walking tank.

As with all dinosaur groups, the origin of ankylosaurs is poorly understood. Like all animals, they appear suddenly and fully-formed in the fossil record.

In 2023, a group of evolutionists described “a new genus and species of ankylosaur [Vectipelta barrette] from the Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight” in England.¹ Vectipelta has some unique traits such as “numerous postcranial autapomorphies,” but it is still 100% an ankylosaur.

The burial of the creatures of the Wealden Group is interesting. Pond et al. state, “The Wealden Group of southern England [where Vectipelta was found] was deposited by rivers, on floodplains and in lagoons during the Early Cretaceous.”¹ Rivers, floodplains and lagoons are all aquatic environments...and so is a really large flood.²

Geologist Dr. Tim Clarey discusses an interesting article by Dr. Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario, regarding the deposition and fossilization of ankylosaurs.

The authors also noted that many ankylosaur fossils, particularly the nodosaur variety, are commonly found in marine sediments, as are most of the dinosaur fossils found across Europe. Did virtually all these dinosaurs somehow happen to fall into rivers and float out to sea as many secular scientists claim? Did 26 of 36 carcasses casually flip upside-down in the water? Or is there a better explanation for these upside-down ankylosaurs?

The global Flood seems to provide the perfect answer to this global phenomenon. The floodwaters would have quickly inundated and drowned ankylosaurs. The dinosaurs would have floated along, most of them tumbling into an upside-down position, and then been deposited in sediments quickly enough to preserve their bones as fossils.³

Dr. Brian Thomas mentioned an ankylosaur mixed in marine sediments.

Workers with the Canadian energy company Suncor unearthed ankylosaur remains while mining oil sands near Fort McMurray in Alberta. The carcass of the four-legged land creature was not flattened, as is the case with many fossilized vertebrates. But most strangely, it was found in an area known primarily for fossilized marine creatures.⁴

Creationists would expect terrestrial and marine animals mixed together on the basis of the Flood.^5,6

Ankylosaurs have always been ankylosaurs. Research has shown their sudden and catastrophic burial is best explained by the global Flood thousands of years ago.

References

1. Stuart Pond et al., “Vectipelta barretti, a new ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, UK,” Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 21, no. 1 (2023).
2. Tim Clarey, “Global Stratigraphy Supports a Progressive Worldwide Flood,” Acts & Facts, Research Edition 2023, 12–13.
3. Tim Clarey, “Genesis Flood Explains Bloat-and-Float Dinosaurs,” Creation Science Update, March 26, 2018, https://www.icr.org/article/genesis-expl
   ains-bloat-and-float-dinosaurs.
4. Brian Thomas, “Dinosaur Fossil ‘Wasn’t Supposed to Be There,’” Creation Science Update, April 14, 2011, https://www.icr.org/article/dinosaur-fos
   sil-wasnt-supposed-be-there/.
5. Brian Thomas, “Marine Reptile Fossil Rewrites Evolution,” Creation Science Update, January 18, 2012, https://www.icr.org/article/marine-repti
   le-fossil-rewrites-evolution.
6. Tim Clarey, “Dinosaur Fossils Found in Marine Rocks...Again,” Creation Science Update, May 25, 2017, https://www.icr.org/article/dinosaur-fos
   sils-found-marine-rocksagain.

* Dr. Sherwin is a science news writer at the Institute for Creation Research. He earned an M.A. in zoology from the University of Northern Colorado and received an honorary doctorate of science from Pensacola Christian College.