Tag Archives: Dinosaurs

What happened to the dinosaurs…?

Interesting article presented on Huffingtonpost.com and written by Michael McLaughlin focusing on the above topic and some new theories regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs had big trouble long before asteroid struck: Study

The gist of the article (SPOILERS!) is that while an asteroid impact may well have vanquished dinosaurs, there appears to be evidence suggesting the species was in a decline, from an evolutionary standpoint, by the time the asteroid actually hit.

What does this mean?

Well, it may mean the dinosaur would not have survived as a species even if the asteroid did not hit.  Which in turn may suggest the asteroid, while a “killing” event, may have wiped out a species already weak and heading to extinction anyway.

Then again, it is possible dinosaurs were at a weak point but might have rebounded and the asteroid ended that possibility permanently.

Or it could be dinosaurs were in the process of evolving into something far more adaptable to their environment.

At this point the study is fascinating and adds another piece to an already interesting puzzle.  While it does still appear the theory that an asteroid ended the dinosaur appears unaltered, the idea the dinosaur species was bound for extinction (possibly) anyway is an interesting new wrinkle.