14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers writing in a recent issue of the journal Biological Reviews say that, had it not been for a perfect storm of events that ultimately led to their demise, dinosaurs might still have walked among us.
More precisely, it appears that, but for other factors that were also at play when these ancient beasts fell off the biodiversity map, dinosaurs might have conjured up the strength to survive the asteroid strike that killed them.
Paleontologist Stephen Brusatte with the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and fellow researchers say that the asteroid strike occurred at a time when dinosaurs were not exactly doing great to begin with, Nature informs.
As detailed in the journal Biological Reviews, plant-eating dinosaurs were by no means diverse 66 million years ago, when the space rock collided with our planet. It is this lack of diversity that is believed to have contributed to the beasts' demise.
Thus, researchers say that, had our planet accommodated for more plant-eating species at the time of the strike, dinosaurs would have had an easier time coping with the consequences of the impact. In a nutshell, they would not have starved and would not have experienced population collapse.
This means that, had the asteroid crashed into our planet either a few million years earlier or a few million years later than it did, dinosaurs might have survived this catastrophe and might have managed to survive until this day and age.
As paleontologist Stephen Brusatte puts it, “The asteroid hit at a particularly bad time.” Furthermore, “If it had hit a few million years earlier or later, dinosaurs probably would have been much better equipped to survive.”
Evidence uncovered over the years indicates that, over the last 8 to 10 million years prior to the strike, herbivore dinosaurs in North America experienced a noteworthy decline in terms of diversity. This is believed to have made them more vulnerable to extinction in the aftermath of a catastrophe.
However, researchers say that, had it not been for our planet's collision with the asteroid, these ancient beasts would have probably made a recovery over the years. “If we look at the global picture, we don't see evidence for a long-term decline,” says Richard Butler.
“In no sense were dinosaurs doomed to extinction and the asteroid just kind of finished them off,” the University of Edinburgh paleontologist goes on to comment on the possibility that it was not the asteroid strike itself but a perfect storm of events that caused dinosaurs to go extinct.
As sad as the story of how an asteroid caught dinosaurs off guard and killed them might be, perhaps this perfect storm is nothing we, humans, should spend our night crying about. This is because, were these beasts still alive these days, the world would surely looked very different.