If An Asteroid Didn’t Kill All The Dinosaurs, What Did?

Dinosaurs had a far longer, more painful death than originally thought. Researchers found the asteroid hit was just the tip of the iceberg.


Read More:

Dinosaur Die Out Was Gradual, Miserable, Painful
“Some dinosaurs definitely would have been instantly killed in the impact, those in the vicinity of the impact site for instance; others may have perished in the tsunami caused by the blast,” lead author Manabu Sakamoto of the University of Reading’s School of Biological Sciences told Discovery News.He continued, “The majority of the remaining dinosaurs all over the rest of the world would have likely starved to death as vegetation died out owing to the layer of ash that blacked out the sky (nuclear winter).”

Dinosaurs Survive!
“Not all dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. Avian dinosaurs--in other words, birds--survived and flourished. Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History estimate that there are more than 18,000 species of birds alive today. A variety of other species also survived on land, including frogs, snakes, lizards and mammals.”

K–T extinction
“Of the dinosaurs, only the archosaurs, a lineage that gave rise to modern birds and crocodilians, survived the extinction. Of the planktonic marine flora and fauna, only about 13 percent of the coccolithophore and planktonic foraminiferal genera remained alive. Among free-swimming mollusks, the ammonoids and belemnoids became extinct.”
____________________

DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily.

[CaliPatriot]

Why did all the dinosaurs die out? Because you touch yourself at night.

[MysticMindAnalysis]

Why talk about Birds while showing a Pterosaur on screen? Pterosaurs are not birds, nor were they Dinosaurs. They were flying reptiles, distinct from Dinosaurs.

[skiiimsk]

Actually robots for another planet came down in their space ships and killed all of them. You watched Transformers right?

[GenJotsu]

I'm surprised nobody is talking about oxygen levels as well. Higher oxygen levels meant bigger animals like dinosaurs and giant insects. Oxygen in the atmosphere was decreasing fast during this period.

[TerenceClark]

This is funny to me. In my geology classwork 15+ years ago this was already old news. I'm not even sure the idea of a single-point catastrophic extinction has ever been held by more than perhaps a few paleontologists. When you think about it a single catastrophe that nearly instantaneously wipes out nearly an entire branch of the animal tree, but leaves several other lineages intact just doesn't fit with how reality works. Hell, it even left a sizable branch of the dinosauria intact in the form of birds. Not the sort of thing you'd expect from a world-ending catastrophe. Chuxulub dealt a hell of a blow and perhaps the dinosaurs wouldn't have exited the stage so completely or so early without it, but it wasn't the only one, or even the final one. "Not with a bang, but a whimper" as the poem goes.

[ToxyBlack]

Scrat did it when he split the continents he screwed everything.

[Vajsmilan]

Didnt you guys watch Transformers 4...? :D

[kellygaines]

Whoa I'm 53 & you just taught me something new. It shows ur never to old to learn new stuff, thank you.

[SoggySlopster]

This makes absolutely no sense. Why would the bird species die out

[CasepbX]

I'm 30 so I was taught what every 90s kid was taught. Big rock, boom, no more giant turtles.

[Waterlooplein]

I'm glad someone is going on record to say that.

[gilbertoresendez]

did anyone else see lissette's oragasim face 00:31

[anon_rah]

question: Why do we say ouch after a pain action took place???

[AndreasStom]

"cold blooded reptiles" get your shit together DNews. Please, you're a science channel, act like it...

[ShawnRavenfire]

When I was in gradeschool, I was told that they died out because of a drought.

[antokindness]

Lissette, you are awesome!
Compliments on your EXCELLENCE (both physical and intellectual) from Italy!

[UaEBoSS]

WHAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS? THE ICE AGGGE.

[dennisdegasEDG]

Thanks for telling us something we dont know

[Birdstangg]

"cold blooded reptiles"

Gtfo we know this isn't the case.

[YellowBrickRoad-xf]

I still find it so fascinating that giant reptiles once roamed the Earth. It's like something out of a sci-fi novel.