Took a brief break from Dinosaur Profiles, but I’m bringing them back this week with one of my personal favorite dinosaurs, Lesothosaurus. Lesothosaurus is a tiny, (by dinosaur standards) reptile, which would likely have been a favorite play partner for Cain and Abel, and would have been a favorite prey for larger reptiles, such as Spinosaurus or Allosaurus.
Evolutionists inform us that Lesosthosaurus evolved in the early Jurassic period of history, approximately two hundred million years ago. It is classified as an ornithischian. An ornithischian is otherwise known as a “bird-hipped” dinosaur. Essentially this means that the hip bones are arranged in the same manner that birds are, with the pubis bone facing the rear of the body. Some evolutionists suggest that ornithischians eventually developed into birds.
Lesothosaurus was bipedal, and according to a National Geographic article “has been compared with that of modern-day gazelles, which browse on low-growing vegetation and nervously scan their surroundings for danger, fleeing when a predator approaches too near.” This would likely have been an apt comparison in the post-Fall world, with Lesothosaurus and gazelles possibly sharing grazing lands and taking turns watching for an oncoming predator. It had very large eyes for its size, undoubtedly aiding its watch for predators post-fall, and helping it spot the best food sources pre-fall. It had a pointed beak with small teeth designed to rip apart leaves and other vegetation. This mouth arrangement means it is unlikely that Lesothosaurus was able to chew. Instead, it would have ground up its food in its beak before swallowing. Short, around a foot off the ground, and a mere six feet in length, Lesothosaurus would have been quite quick. With hollow bones and weighing a mere ten-twenty pounds on average, the “lizard from Lesotho” would likely have been able to run at speeds that would have distanced many of the larger predators.
Pre and post-fall, Lesothosaurus would have had a similar role. They would have been grazers, munching on grass and low shrubs, and occasionally picking up a fallen apple or pear. Like the gazelle and wildebeest, Lesothosaurus would have been at home on the Serengeti plains and scrub-land, and likely shared territory with pronghorns and buffalo in the American West as well, though I must stress no fossils have been found there as yet. Its small claws could have been used to dig up roots such as carrots. It also would likely have been a common food source for post-flood man, and perhaps a pet and playmate for his children.
As an ornithischian, Lesothosaurus is considered to be a sort of “pre-bird”. I’m not going to go into the whole argument here, I want to point out a few differences between reptiles and birds. Birds tend to have hollow bones, whereas reptiles have filled bone, though this is not definitive as some dinosaurs have hollow bones, particularly femurs. However birds do not have teeth or a jaw, and reptiles do. Bird rapidly metabolize their food. Reptiles take an extended period of time to digest meals. Birds have a four-chambered heart, and reptiles have a three-chambered heart. These are just a few of the differences that would need to be overcome for a reptile to become a bird. There is no observable evidence, other than specious speculation, that reptiles could change into birds. While Lesothosaurus does have hollow leg bones, it has none of the other characteristics of a bird, nor is there any evidence that is magically transitioned into one through evolutionary processes.
In His Image 