Extinction of Dinosaurs
Extinction of Dinosaurs
Ryan Humphries
Biology
6th Period
Two-hundred and thirty million years ago the first dinosaur-like creature roamed the earth. Within five million years it could be considered a dinosaur. They were soon at the top of the food chain. They populated every continent. Then 65 million years ago they vanished. The most powerful creatures ever to live on earth had become extinct. Dinosaurs were not the only victims of this "mass extinction." There were many other species that were killed off. During what is known as the K-T extinction (K stands for Cretaceous, T stands for Tertiary), many species and families became extinct. These include all marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, and ammonites, swimming and flying reptiles, sea crocodiles, and foraminifera. In addition to that there were many bony fish, sponges, snails, clams, and sea urchins became extinct. Paleontologists have proposed scenarios that could have caused these extinctions. One such scenario involves the growing number of small mammals which ate dinosaur eggs, and therefore caused the dinosaurs' birth rate to drop.
The birth rate became smaller than the death rate and the dinosaurs died out.
This, however, is not a plausible scenario. This would only account for the dinosaurs, but not all the other creatures of that time. Paleontologists needed to come up with a more plausible and devastating theory that would include the other creatures that died out 65 million years ago. There have been several major theories that have come about that can all be substantiated. Any one of these events, theorized by paleontologists, could have brought an end to the dinosaurs and all the other species that died with them. Since there are many theories about this I will not write about them all. I have chosen the theory about death by Cosmic Collision (an asteroid). In 1980 Luis Alvarez and John Sepkowski Jr., famous geologists, blamed the extinction of the
Ryan Humphries
Biology
6th Period
Two-hundred and thirty million years ago the first dinosaur-like creature roamed the earth. Within five million years it could be considered a dinosaur. They were soon at the top of the food chain. They populated every continent. Then 65 million years ago they vanished. The most powerful creatures ever to live on earth had become extinct. Dinosaurs were not the only victims of this "mass extinction." There were many other species that were killed off. During what is known as the K-T extinction (K stands for Cretaceous, T stands for Tertiary), many species and families became extinct. These include all marine reptiles such as plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, ichthyosaurs, and ammonites, swimming and flying reptiles, sea crocodiles, and foraminifera. In addition to that there were many bony fish, sponges, snails, clams, and sea urchins became extinct. Paleontologists have proposed scenarios that could have caused these extinctions. One such scenario involves the growing number of small mammals which ate dinosaur eggs, and therefore caused the dinosaurs' birth rate to drop.
The birth rate became smaller than the death rate and the dinosaurs died out.
This, however, is not a plausible scenario. This would only account for the dinosaurs, but not all the other creatures of that time. Paleontologists needed to come up with a more plausible and devastating theory that would include the other creatures that died out 65 million years ago. There have been several major theories that have come about that can all be substantiated. Any one of these events, theorized by paleontologists, could have brought an end to the dinosaurs and all the other species that died with them. Since there are many theories about this I will not write about them all. I have chosen the theory about death by Cosmic Collision (an asteroid). In 1980 Luis Alvarez and John Sepkowski Jr., famous geologists, blamed the extinction of the