First they came for the velociraptors, and I did not chomp them - because I was not a velociraptor.
Then they came for the stegosauruses, and I did not chomp them - because I was not a stegosaurus.
Then they came for the triceratops, and I did not chomp them - because I was not a triceratops.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to chomp them for me.
-Theodore Rex
I wonder if you could see the meteor in the sky approaching in the days and hours leading up it.
Fun fact: I heard that the meteor was not actually what killed them off, but rather even before that, changes in the atmosphere had already begun to make ginormous lizards a less viable solution.
Mammals were just so adaptable, that we adapted to the post-meteor changes, even as we had already been adapting to the before-meteor ones.
I am guessing that most, if not all, mass extinctions were a multi-cause issue.
Even so, one line of thinking along those lines is that the meteor did not in fact kill off the dinosaurs. It did manage to polish them off, but they were decreasing in prominence as mammals increased already. I doubt anyone could prove one way or another, but it’s a fascinating thought to ponder b/c if true, that would mean that the meteor was not the primary cause of their extinction:-). Maybe it was their lack of adaptability? As in, they were fossils even when they were alive:-P.
Birds are, essentially, dinosaurs. Dinosaurs never died out, they just got smaller.
I know what you mean but… actually it’s more like crocs, alligators, and gila monsters are the “dinosaurs” - especially since that word essentially means “large lizard”:-P. Birds are also their descendents its true but they kinda also have their own thing going on, having abandoned their origins in favor of that.
You’re not wrong though:-).
Paleontologists would disagree and it’s their field of expertise.
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/fighting-dinos/birds-living-dinosaurs
They are not “living large reptiles” though:-P.
Likely they are referring to birds being in a monophyletic clade alongside dinos, but by that logic, humans are monkeys.
I mean, we are warmblooded, give live birth, have opposable thumbs, etc., so we aren’t “not apes”… but also we are so much more, so very different than how we started.
Also, computers are rocks.:-D
Crocs are about as far away from dinosaurs as an archosaur can get. They split off from them very early on. Note where birds fall on this chart on the other hand.
Neat, I didn’t know that - that’s awesome:-).
According to this you could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFCbJmgeHmA
Runs through the whole process and is an interesting watch.
Fuck yeah thanks. Don’t know how I missed this lol.
Even if mammals will grow bigger, they will never threaten dinosaurs to go extinct
What do you mean extinct?
Those are my ancestors there 🥹
Agreed
This is truly amazing!
Is this from that book of West of Eden? I haven’t read it yet 🥲
