Dinosaurs had lost their ability to evolve and were in decline millions of years before a meteorite smashed into the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico and finished them off. New scientific research suggests that a long-standing theory about the demise of the dinosaurs might be wrong. Scientists have long believed that dinosaurs were wiped out by a cataclysmic event some 66 million years ago when a six mile wide meteorite or comet smashed into the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. The energy created by the impact briefly boiled the earth’s atmosphere, resulting in fires, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and the resulting soot, dust and ash blotted out the sun, killing off life on the planet. LBC reports: New research suggests that in reality, more dinosaurs species were disappearing than new ones were emerging up to 50 million years earlier. Giant long-necked plant-eaters such as Diplodocus were vanishing at the fastest rate, while meat-eating relatives of Tyrannosaurus rex were in more gradual decline. The scientists, whose findings are based on sophisticated statistical analysis and fossil evidence, believe the meteor impact 66 million years ago finished off a process that was already well under way. Lead researcher Dr Manabu Sakamoto, from the University of [...]
