Claims of alleged sightings of a live Therizinosaurus and a sauropod with a horizontal neck, spines, and a oval shaped head in Papua New Guinea has never been surfaced before until a few years ago in 2005/2006 where Creationist Brian Irwin claims to have visited natives who claimed to have seen 2 dinosaur-like creatures swimming in the waters in and around Papua New Guinea. The first one is likely a distorted version of wallaby sightings made by the natives for personal gain since the creature is said to be built like a wallaby with…
"a long tail and a long neck and was 10-15 metres in length, with an appearance like a ‘very large wallaby' and having a head like a turtle's head. It walked slowly on two legs and had smooth, shiny brown skin. The top of the head was estimated to be as high as a house and the underbelly of the creature was as high as an adult."
Without any reasonable proofs whatsoever, Irwin regards it as a Therizinosaurus and shows a page from a real dinosaur book from DK Publishing entitled Dinosaurs And Prehistoric Life containing an image of a Therizinosaurus which Irwin claims to be the cryptid a native member named Robert (no last name given) was describing when he saw the Therizinosaurus image from the book. But does the claim include descriptions of it having massive arms with massive claws, feathers on its body, a potbelly, and 4 huge toes on each foot? No, it doesn't. The claim the natives made about the alleged living Therizinosaurus have failed to mention the big massive claws growing on each hand, 4 large toes supporting its weight, a potbelly, and the fact that Therizinosaurus is known to have feathers on its body. And the misrepresentation of the quote, "no skull material has ever been found that could indicate its diet," deliberately ignores the head of Therizinosaurus likely being similar to the actual heads of other therizinosaurids whose heads are shaped like that of a beaked coelurosaur, not like a horse or a turtle's. The turtle head part was likely thrown in as a result of finding out that the fossils of the "scythe lizard" were once thought to be remains of a turtle when it was first unearthed in Mongolia in the late 1940s'.
Therizinosaurus is estimated to be 32 feet long and have a real short tail, yet the cryptid is described to be 50 feet long and have a long tail. Its body was like a bird, yet the cryptid is said to be built like a wallaby. The real Therizinosaurus has 4 large weight-bearing toes on each coelurosaurid foot, yet the cryptid is said to have 3 toes on each foot similar to a duck. Therizinosaurus wasn't built for climbing, yet the cryptid is said to be an excellent rock climber. The lifestyle of the real Therizinosaurus are compared to a sloth, one of the slowest animals on earth. Like the sloth, the real Therizinosaurus is a terrestrial dinosaur that spends all of its life on land, dining on mostly vegetation and occasional insects, worms, and other types of small prey. It is incapable for aquatic life unlike the alleged cryptid that is known to spend most of its time in the water and the wallaby that's occasionally seen hopping across the water. Plus, the description deliberately ignores the fact that Therizinosaurus is only native to Mongolia. No traces of Therizinosaurid remains, fully intact bodies, eggs, young, etc. has ever been found in Papa New Guinea.
The second cryptid is alleged to be a living sauropod-like animal swimming off the coast of Gasmata near Papua New Guinea. The animal, alleged to have spotted by two people in 2005, who described a creature as dinosaur-like with…
"..a long neck and a long tail and had a total length of about 20 metres and a width of about 2 metres. The head was described as being ‘like a dinosaur' with an ‘oval-like face. The top of the legs of the animal were visible above the water, with the water being used to support the weight of the animal's body. The skin of the animal was described as being ‘like a crocodile' and was khaki green in colour. Dermal frills (possibly indicating the animal is a male?) could be seen on the creature's back, extending to the back of the head. Something was observed protruding from the back of the creature's head. The creature's neck was almost horizontal during the sighting. Details of the creature's eye and mouth could not be determined, as the observers were about 30 to 40 metres from the animal. The sighting occurred for less than 30 seconds, until the reptile sunk into the water. No sound could be heard from the creature by the observers. The creature has not been observed since this sighting in 2005."
It may have been a stray the green iguana (Iguana iguana) that have escaped from captivity after being imported to Papua New Guinea from South America. This lizard, otherwise a native of South and Central America, is what the two people must have saw in 2005 and invented the story of the 55 foot long, 6 feet wide dinosaur-like creature after seeing the iguana. Like the iguana, the cryptid is said to have dermal frills (or spines) on the creature's back, extending to the back of the oval shaped head. And like the cryptid, the iguana is a excellent swimmer. Since the alleged cryptid is said to be 60 feet long, 6 feet wide, and have a long neck and a long tail with dermal frills running along its back, Irwin simply asserts, "The only known animal that fits the description of this animal is a sauropod dinosaur, such as an apatosaurus." out of sheer ignorance of the sauropod's complete lack of aquatic abilities. Remember, sauropods are all terrestrial dinosaurs that are much more happy planting their compact front toeless, one-clawed mitten and hind 5 toed, 3 clawed elephantine feet on dry solid ground and are unadaptive to life in the sea. Although one diplodocid fossil was shown to have a row of dermal spines growing on its back, it is not know if all sauropods have such features on their backs, or not.
There's no physical evidence supporting the existence of such creatures. The photo that was said to be taken by two women on a boat, who both allegedly claimed to have seen the wallaby-like cryptid splashing about, turned out to be nothing more than just water splashing on a large crack in the bottom cliff wall that was smeared to deceptively look like a reptilian tail.
At the conclusion of the article, Irwin claims,
"This is not the first time that dinosaur-like creatures have reportedly been sighted in Papua New Guinea.. If ever a ‘living dinosaur' is found and confirmed to the satisfaction of the scientific fraternity, many people would be astonished, given the prevailing evolutionary view that dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago."
How would they be "astonished," Irwin, when no physical evidence has ever been found to confirm the existence of such creatures?
"Christians, however, should not be surprised, as the Bible teaches that God created the dinosaurs only around 6,000 years ago. So we needn't be too taken aback if a theropod or sauropod dinosaur is ever confirmed to be living in the world today."
Who are you to say to us Christians that we should not be surprised and needn't be too taken aback by all of this when no physical evidence of such creatures has ever been found? Like all creationists, Irwin have absolutely no right to dictate Christians in every way. Instead of what Irwin assumes, it will not be a surprise or a need for us to be too taken aback when we find that the Bible teaches nothing about God creating the dinosaurs only around 6,000 years ago and that there is not a single trace of any physical evidence found that confirms the existence for the existence of such cryptids roaming around Papua New Guinea, let along the rest of the world (I.e. no evidence of fully intact dinosaurs, eggs, young, etc.). Plus finding modern dinosaurs (other than birds) will not astonish many people nor destroy the "prevailing evolutionary view," but excite the people, instead, and lead scientists to figure out how did dinosaurs (of non-avian type) evolve to cope with humans and the modern world which we live in today.
