The first flyers

Insects were the first animals to fly. Science dates the oldest winged insects in the rocks to about 325 million years ago, and genetic clocks put the first wings earlier, about 406 million years ago. Either way, they flew before the first reptiles (about 312 million years ago), dinosaurs (about 230 million) and mammals (about 225 million). The fifth day's word for fowl, 'oph, means anything that flies. The King James calls winged insects "fowls that creep" (Leviticus 11:20).

The mechanism

THE FIRST WINGS

How it was checked

• EvidenceT6 PHYSICAL / OBSERVATION; Status: ADDED 2026-10-01
• Letter eraTHE DECLARATION AND THE DEEP RECORD the awakening to Babel: dated by ruling and by the record, placed by story where the text gives no date
• SourcesFOSSIL — the oldest winged-insect fossils, Early Carboniferous, about 325 Myr (Delitzschala, Germany); GENETIC CLOCK — the origin of insect flight about 406 Myr (Misof et al., Science 346:763–767, 2014); FOSSIL — Hylonomus, the earliest reptile, about 312 Myr (Joggins, Nova Scotia); the earliest dinosaurs about 230 Myr; the earliest mammaliaforms about 225 Myr; SCRIPTURE — Leviticus 11:20 (KJV); LEXICON — 'oph (Strong's H5775), 'flying creature', Genesis 1:20