Talk:Man and dinosaurs coexisted (Talk.Origins)

Re: "There is a similar "gap" between man and the coelacanth (http://www.dinofish.com/) but the coelacanth is alive and well today still coexisting with man."

Coelacanths are a few species living in a single habitat whereas dinosaurs included thousands of species living pretty much everywhere; comparing the two in this way is bordering on dishonest - like claiming there might be elephants living in your garden because you've found a hedgehog living under the shed.

Re: "Futhermore both "gaps" are based on uniformitarian dating methods."

This is not true. The length of the 'dinosaur gap' may be based on dating methods, but its existence was known long before absolute dating methods were ever used, based on relative positions of strata. Roy 16:07, 9 Dec 2004 (GMT)


 * Coelacanths are not the only example, just one. The fact that there are numerous such examples invalidates your argument.
 * The response regarding the gaps was to a claim about the length of the gaps.
 * Philip J. Rayment 02:08, 10 Dec 2004 (GMT)

Then shouldn't it say 'Furthermore the lengths of both "gaps"...'?
 * No, whilst I suppose it could say that, I don't believe that it should. Talk.Origins (see the quote) introduces the concept of a gap by mentioning the "64-million year gap", and further comments that "there should not be such a dramatic separation between them".  Thus "gap" is a reference to the length of time; the aspect of the gap being discussed is its length, not its existence.  Charles mentions another 'similar "gap"' in the first part of his response, then makes the reference to 'both "gaps"' that bothers you.  But as the reference to "gaps" all along has been to their length, there is no need to repeat this aspect. Philip J. Rayment 01:16, 14 Dec 2004 (GMT)

And unless you can find numerous examples of gaps of entire orders of creatures then the comparison is still invalid. (Ginkgos might be one. I know of no others). Roy 19:59, 13 Dec 2004 (GMT)
 * Even the relatively few examples I know of are, I believe, enough to validate the claim that the existence of gaps proves nothing. Philip J. Rayment 01:16, 14 Dec 2004 (GMT)

Oh, I know the existence of the gap proves nothing (though it is strong evidence); that wasn't my point. My objection is to the description of the coelacanth gap (a few species in one environment) being similar to the dinosaur gap (thousands of species in many diverse environments). If you have even a few examples of groups with as rich and varied fossils as dinosaurs leaving no traces for an entire geological era without being extinct I'll be very surprised. Roy 13:30, 17 Dec 2004 (GMT)

It appears that man and dinosaurs still coexist, except that now they're called birds. --Drlindberg 19:18, 25 March 2007 (EDT)