Dinosaurs: What happened to them?

Dinosaurs have remained at the center of human curiosity for hundreds of years. Spawning myths about dragons and beasts of fire, these ancient creatures have always been the focus of popular culture. Apart from books, modern video games and all those blockbuster movies have continued to enhance public interest. As we know, these mighty animals ruled the world for more than 150 million years and suddenly disappeared around 65 million years ago (Society, 2015). Buts as interesting as these beasts were, it’s their abrupt extinction that’s left paleontologists with one of the biggest questions in Earth’s history.

Now-a-days when we watch Jurassic Park or play Ark: Survival Evolved, one of the first things that comes to mind is to wonder how the Dinosaurs disappeared. How could such a mighty species be completely wiped out from the face of the earth? Yes, there are plenty of other queries related to dinosaurs.

The first and the most prominent hypothesis is that around 65 million years’ ago, Earth was struck by a giant asteroid (10 kilometers in size) which created the 180-kilometer Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatán Peninsula. The event created a huge cloud of dust that blocked sunlight for years, leading to the extinction of almost all forms of life on Earth (Fastovsky and Weishampel, 2005). Some scientists, however, claim that the Dinosaurs were already suffering from extreme climate change and weather distortions while the event was only the last nail on their coffin (Dinosaurs?, 2015). Frequent volcanism, extreme global warming and subsequent rising of sea levels, destruction of dinosaurs’ food sources due to changed weather condition, devastating floods and massive tsunami are some of the causes that could also lead to the mass extinction (Paleobiology.si.edu, 2015). As we can see, the asteroid event may have a direct effect on some of the other events provided above – i.e. global warming, the rise of sea level etc.

Some of the scientists even propose another cause of extinction –Continental Drift. This theory suggests that tectonic plates moved and changed the Earth’s surface – landmasses moved, waterways drained out and sea level and current changed their usual state. That was a massive and sudden natural disaster and could easily wipe out the Dinosaurs from the face of the Earth (Fastovsky and Weishampel, 2005).

Apart from these hypotheses, other causes of extinction include the competition with the mammals over resources and subsequent defeat due to adverse natural condition (caused by disasters) and failure to adapt quickly with the changing world (Pbs.org, 2015). Until now, none of these hypotheses is unanimously accepted (Brett-Surman, Holtz and Farlow, 2012). So, these could individually or collectively wipe out the dinosaurs. Or, there would be other yet-to-be-discovered reasons behind the extinction.

However, it should be noted here that modern-day birds are considered to be the descendants of some of the surviving dinosaur species – i.e. Theropod dinosaurs. It’s yet a mystery how did they survive but according to the scientists, some of them did learn the art of survival and evolved to their feathery present-day specimen for adapting with the changing world (BBC Guides, 2015). Apart from birds, there are popular stories regarding dinosaur sightings all over the world – form Lock Ness in Scotland to Mokele-Mbembe in Central Africa. But they all proved to be only stories and nothing else.

Though the end of the dinosaur era is still shrouded with mystery, scientists are working hard on this matter and have made astonishing advancements in recent years. Let’s hope we’ll have our answers soon and till then, keep up the queries!

References

BBC Guides, (2015). Do dinosaurs still live among us?. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zyrx34j [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

Dinosaurs?, A. (2015). Why Did the Dinosaurs Die Out? – Facts & Summary – HISTORY.com. [online] HISTORY.com. Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/why-did-the-dinosaurs-die-out [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

DNews, (2015). Dinosaur Extinction Paved Way for Mammal Giants : DNews. [online] Available at: http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/dinosaurs-mammals-giants.htm [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

Fastovsky, D. and Weishampel, D. (2005). The evolution and extinction of the dinosaurs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Paleobiology.si.edu, (2015). National Museum of Natural History – Dinosaurs. [online] Available at: http://paleobiology.si.edu/dinosaurs/info/everything/why.html [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

Pbs.org, (2015). Evolution: Extinction: What Killed the Dinosaurs?. [online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/extinction/dinosaurs/mammal.html [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

Society, N. (2015). Dinosaur Extinction, Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Information, Prehistoric Facts — National Geographic. [online] National Geographic. Available at: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/dinosaur-extinction/ [Accessed 19 Dec. 2015].

Disclaimer: This article was written for Project EduGaming. It’s republished here as the project website is not accessible these days.