W B Damn you, Universal Studios, for making me see this! No, I’m not crying. 66 million years before Jurassic World broke my heart with that scene, dinosaurs truly went extinct. Get ready to know more about their tragic ending.
#1 It wasn’t the largest extinction on this planet
In fact, the largest was the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, and you know what’s more interesting? No one knows what happened. It could have been volcanoes, an asteroid, the massive release of greenhouse gas, or it could have even been Frieza. Life on Earth began 600 million years ago, but 252 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction wiped out 95% of marine species and 70% of land animals, in other words, almost everything. If a small percentage of life hadn’t survived, neither dinosaurs and you, nor YouTubers would exist. Another interesting fact is that this extinction took around 60 thousand years, which may sound like a long time, but when compared to how long Earth has been here… it’s nothing.
#2 Who stroke the final blow?
Who was it?! I’ll destroy them! Take that, meteorite. Well, I may have gone overboard, since even scientists aren’t sure who or what wiped out the dinosaurs. A meteorite the size of a mountain fell on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, and spread deadly gases throughout the atmosphere that killed many dinosaurs; this happened 66 million years ago. But, hey, over that same period in India, a gigantic volcanic eruption filled the planet’s air with lethal gases as well. So, which one was the final blow? The meteorite or the volcano? If the volcano was first, it weakened the dinos before the great impact. If it was second, then it killed the survivors. So, take this too.
#3 Greenhouse effect
This theory does make me angry since there’s no one to hit, it’s the air. After the already known meteorite impact, a huge tsunami struck, thousands of igneous rocks flew out, and dust covered the sky, leaving the planet in darkness. Then the worst came. No, Rex… don’t go into the light… With all the heat from the impact enclosed by the big cloud of dust, Earth went through global warming that lasted 100 thousand years. The seas warmed 9 degrees Fahrenheit, and several plants died from lack of sunlight, which affected the entire food chain… the dinos couldn’t make it.
#4 The rise of mammals
If the dominant species on your planet were fearsome and massive reptiles… I don’t see how you’d prevail. But what if everyone suddenly left? That’s what happened, nothing weighing over 55 pounds survived said extinction. Well, except for some turtles and crocodiles. But why? That’s because several plants also disappeared with the extinction along with herbivores, and therefore carnivores. Mammals back then were the size of rats, since hiding in a hole was the only way not to become a light snack for dinosaurs. But without dinos, species that were 9% larger appeared, and gradually more and more showed up, including some very cool ones that make YouTube videos. Ha! That’s me.
Before moving on, I wanna say hi to that one person, who always says: I’m first, I’m first! in the comment section. And to the second who said the same thing, thinking you were first too. Why not? I feel generous today. Let’s continue.
#5 Not all dinos are gone forever
The key lay in the teeth. As I said before, there were very few plants back then. If you had teeth and expected to eat plenty of herbivores, you wouldn’t survive. But you would if you develop a beak. One of the few foods left was probably seeds, but even the smallest raptors who used to eat insects, worms, and meat couldn’t eat seeds with their teeth. That’s when teeth become useless, and you need a beak. If you were a theropod, which was the name of T. rex and raptor-like dinos, you had a beak and didn’t need much food… you could eat seeds. Now, look at the shape of a T. Rex. If you change its mouth for a beak and put plenty of feathers… doesn’t it resemble a chicken? It does, the theory says that beaked theropods survived and are the ancestors of today’s birds.
#6 The last resistance
If you think I deceived you with the last one. Calm down. There was a group of dinosaurs that really tried. After the asteroid, some dinosaur species found shelter in western North America and stayed there for half a million years more. This was demonstrated with the discovery of fossils in Colorado and New Mexico long ago after the great impact. Some Hadrosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and even Tyrannosaurus survived back then. And, although this theory is under strong debate by scientists who refute the period of the fossils and say that the topic is only being romanticized, in my heart, I know, I know! they tried.
#7 A new era
Once the Cretaceous era ended with the mass extinction, the Paleocene began. A period distinguished by a colder and drier climate at first, although it gradually became warmer and more tropical. There were many, many ferns characterized by growing in areas where there were forest fires, which reinforces the meteorite theory. Likewise, since there were no longer gigantic plant-eating dinosaurs, the forests could flourish more than in the Cretaceous. And if you wonder about the fauna, there were all kinds of animals that, despite looking somewhat like modern creatures… were actually very weird. I better show you some. The Purgatorius who resemble squirrels, but are the ancestors of monkeys. The Hyaenodons who, if you think they have something in common with hyenas, forget it, they vanished without a trace. The Waimanu, yes, this is a primitive penguin. And the Phenacodus, I don’t how, but they’re apparently the ancestors of goats. And many, many more pretty weird species.
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