The dinosaurs lived on earth for about 165 million years before an asteroid lead to their Extinction (Weems, Robert). Over the years, several theories have been made regarding the extinction of the dinosaurs. The first theory is that the dinosaurs died from global plagues or a supernova. The second theory is that the dinosaurs died from an asteroid hitting the earth.This paper will explain why the second theory is the correct theory. While some experts believe the dinosaurs became extinct due to global plagues or of a supernova, they were actually killed by an asteroid. The mystery has been unsolved ever since the dinosaur’s remains were found. This sparked some interest into how the dinosaurs lived and what lead to their extinction. At the time, there were about 335 different species of dinosaurs living on earth along with plants (Sumner, Thomas). At the time, all of the land on Earth was still all together, this is called pangea. …show more content…
This theory is not correct because the evidence simply doesn't add up. The first blow to this theory is how many species of dinosaurs there were living on Earth. This means it would be near impossible for a single global plague to kill every species of dinosaurs since every species had unique immune systems and could each make their own adaptations. The second blow is that plants were living on earth during the same time as the dinosaurs. When the dinosaurs died everything on the earth died and the earth went into a dark period (citation). So, if the dinosaurs became extinct due to a plague, the plants would have still survived. The next paragraph will explain how the dinosaurs actually became
So what killed the dinosaurs? Without having any background education in science it is hard for the general public to comprehend such matters and they rely on the knowledge of the scientists in this field. Although there has been much research on the subject nobody has come up with a conclusive answer. And we are left to read the countless articles, all having their own opinions as to the mass extinction. One such theory is that a shift in the solar system could have caused the mass destruction. According to an article published in Nature magazine,
How did the dinosaurs really die? Located in the Bible have been verses that describe creatures that resemble what we might call dinosaurs. According to the Bible, dinosaurs were created by God, and existed over 6,000 years ago (Ham; Dinosaurs), and thanks to the evidence of the tissue found in the T-Rex bone (NBC News). This tissue couldn’t have lasted so long if it were any older. Many Evolutionists and Secularists state that the dinosaurs didn’t exist while the humans did, but state that they became extinct before the humans were even alive and say that they existed millions of years before humans (Ham; Dinosaurs). Dinosaurs couldn’t have died before the existence of humans because death was a result of Adam and Eve’s sin (Ham; Dinosaurs). All of the different species of the dinosaurs did broad Noah’s Ark, but those creatures that couldn’t board the cataclysmic event died and became the fossils that have been discovered by the many scientists of the world (Ham; Dinosaurs). After the Genesis Flood the earth was greatly changed because the sin of humans, death had entered the world. The teterous climate, lack of food, man’s sinful actions, and disease, were all results from the fall, and these results also became the results for the extinction of many creatures such as dinosaurs (Ham;
Stephen Gould’s essay “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs” completely agrees with Joseph Williams and Gregory Colomb’s essay “Argument, Critical Thinking, and Rationality.” Gould’s essay deals with three theories for the extinction of the dinosaurs, two of which he argues are entirely invalid because they are not in accordance with the basic rules of argument laid out by Williams and Colomb in their essay. Gould also states that the third theory of dinosaur extinction, natural disaster, follows all the rules that Williams and Colomb espouse, and thus is a sound argument. Gould, Williams, and Colomb all state that the world has a problem with irrational arguments being shoved down people’s throats, and call for a
Nobody knows for sure exactly how the dinosaurs became extinct. However scientists have speculated for decades about possible events that caused the dinosaurs to die out. Possibilities range from asteroids, to volcanoes, to climate changes. One of the more popular or well-known extinction theories involves the belief that an asteroid struck the Earth, causing devastating effects, and triggering mass extinctions around the end of the Cretaceous period.
Dinosaurs ruled the earth for over 65 million years and thankfully for the human race, they became extinct. Ultimately, only a major catastrophe could completely wipe out an entire species, let alone an entity of dinosaurs and the debacle on the causes of dinosaur extinction have flooded the minds of paleontologists for centuries. Geologist and zoologist Stephen Jay Gould published “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs,” to compare scientific and speculative causes of dinosaur decimation. Personally, I found this passage very informational and enjoyed reading it. Gould provides three theories that capture the reader’s curiosity, allowing room for pondering in one’s mind.
In Stephen Jay Gould’s “Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs”, Gould investigates three possible theories hypothesizing the reason behind the extinction of dinosaurs. The first theory suggests that dinosaurs became extinct due to a rise in temperature, which caused sperm to die, leading to the sterilization of male dinosaurs. The second hypothesis offer that many dinosaurs consumed bitter plants that contained psychoactive agents which their lives could not detoxify out of their systems. The last speculation about the dinosaur’s extinction is that a large cloud of dust formed in the atmosphere after an asteroid hit Earth’s surface. This dust cloud blocked out the sunlight, causing temperatures to drop and made photosynthesis impossible. Gould uses these three theories to lead to his central claim that science isn’t just about making fascinating claims, but should have a well developed hypothesis.
The most well-known extinction event is when the dinosaurs went extinct, although they are not the only organism that perished. This event took place about 65 million years ago, between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods and wiped out nearly 75% of plants and animals (Principles of Biology). Our book says that most dinosaurs and many other sauropsid lineages died, but many lineages survived, including bird. Crocodiles are lineage of dinosaurs and are often studied to see how they have changed over millions of years, turtles are also part of the lineage that survived. Asteroid impact hypothesis which can be found in class rooms, some textbooks and on TV or in movies has been well explained and accepted as the cause of the extinction of dinosaurs. There is geological evidence that supports a large asteroid creating the Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, but the supposed consequences of the event alone cannot account for the major extinctions (Principles of Biology). They say that something else had to also happen in order for all the diversity of animals that became extinct, which would be expected when such a large object impacted earth at what is thought to have been at a high speed too. Changes in sea level and massive volcanic eruptions were also altering the environment, so all this combined is likely what cause the diversity in the extinction event (Principles of
There are many theories explaining the extinction of the dinosaur. The Most probable theories are: a massive meteor hit the earth causing the extinction. B. A chain of volcano’s erupted and caused acid rain, shortage of sunlight and any other number of atmospheric problems that brought about the extinction of dinosaurs. C. Rapid Climate Change in a short period of time would have brought the dinosaurs to extinction because of an inability to evolve to the new environment. All these theories are possible but it is clear that it was a combination of all three theories working together that produced a worldwide extinction event.
The dinosaurs were killed in a freak accident caused by a wild meteor slamming into the Earth, or were they? Was the meteor that killed the dinosaurs really just a random event or did Earth’s location in the galaxy play a part in their deaths? Crawford, Filipoic, Horner, Tothill and White have combined their minds to explain their hypothesis about how Earth’s mass extinctions are caused by the solar system’s movement through the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms in the article titled, Mass Extinction and the Structure of the Milky Way.
Some dinosaurs were covered with a type of body armor, and some probably had feathers, like their modern bird relatives. Some moved quickly, while others were lumbering and slow. Most dinosaurs were herbivores, or plant-eaters, but some were carnivorous and hunted or scavenged other dinosaurs in order to survive.At the time the dinosaurs arose, all of the Earth’s continents were connected together in one land mass, now known as Pangaea, and surrounded by one enormous ocean. Pangaea began to break apart into separate continents during the Early Jurassic Period (around 200 million years ago), and dinosaurs would have seen great changes in the world in which they lived over the course of their existence. Dinosaurs mysteriously disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous Period, around 65 million years ago. Many other types of animals, as well as many species of plants, died out around the same time, and numerous competing theories exist as to what caused this mass extinction. In addition to the great volcanic or tectonic activity that was occurring around that time, scientists have also discovered that a giant asteroid hit Earth
65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the planet. These fascinating animals were the largest, strongest creatures to ever walk the face of the earth, yet, they met a fate that would change the world forever. All that is left are the fossilized remains of these captivating creatures. Their fossils, along with the layers of our Earth’s rock and sediment, tell a story of how they lived and how they died. However, there is still an ongoing debate in the world of science of exactly what catastrophe caused these magnificent animals to take their last breathes and never reappear again. Was it a gigantic meteor or asteroid of some type or was it mass volcanos erupting all over the Earth? Whatever the reason, the dinosaurs disappeared from this
There were over 1,000 different species of dinosaurs (“Dinosaurs”) that lived and evolved for almost 185 million years (“Dinosaur Facts”). Dinosaurs were some of the largest and most mysterious creatures to walk the Earth. Dinosaurs have helped scientists to understand the Earth and it 's past by studying different types, how they lived, their characteristics and what caused their mass extinction.
Dinosaur extinction: An analysis of events and theories that possibly led to the dinosaurs' demise.
Another theory, “psychoactive overdosing,” was proposed by UCLA psychiatrist Robert K. Siegel. He claims that angiosperms, or flowering plants, produced “an array of amino-acid-based alkaloids,” which dinosaurs would unconsciously eat and end up dying. This theory believes that dinosaurs did not have the livers nor the bitterness taste buds to notice and detoxify the psychoactive agents in the angiosperms. Last, but not least, a theory of a collision that came upon earth 65 million years ago. Father and son, Luis and Walter Alvarez, reconstructed a scenario that explained the death of dinosaurs on land, and proposed that a giant dust cloud darkened the earth; causing photosynthesis to discontinue, followed by a drastic temperature drop (pg. 452). Any hypothesis theory is a big contradiction. It is useful with all the advantages it has, yet it can be a disadvantage when an answer can never be found. While the first two theories of extraterrestrial catastrophe are captivating, the “disaster” theory seems more likely reasonable. The asteroid theory is the most developed answer based on the source of testable evidence of iridium – as it proves the dissimilarity of speculation and science when it was found
Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene