Skip to main contentAccessibility feedback
Get Your 2025 Catholic Answers Calendar Today...Limited Copies Available

How Did the Dinosaurs Become Extinct if Death Didn’t Enter the World Until the Fall?

Question:

If we are to believe that the earth wasn’t created in seven literal days but over millions of years, how do we reconcile the theology of death entering the world because of original sin? For example, how could animals such as dinosaurs (some carnivorous) have lived prior to the fall of man and then become extinct if death hadn’t entered into the world until the first man sinned?

Answer:

Scripture is talking about human death. Nowhere does it suggest the notion that the animals were created to be immortal. Only humans were given immortal souls. When death entered creation as the result of the fall, it was human death. So the fact that animals may have died before the fall does not conflict with Scripture.

Did you like this content? Please help keep us ad-free
Enjoying this content?  Please support our mission!Donatewww.catholic.com/support-us