Dino Decline

Dinosaurs "in decline" 50 million years before asteroid strike.

17:39 22 April 2016

A recent study has found dinosaurs were in long-term decline even before a 10km-wide space rock totally wiped them out about 66 million years ago. The team of researches suggested that the creatures could not cope with the ways Earth was changing.

 

The study, which was published in PNAS journal, analysed the fossil remains of dinosaurs from the point they emerged 231 million years ago until they went extinct. The research found that new species evolved at an explosive rate in the beginning. But things started to slow down about 160 million years ago, which led to the decline in the number of species. 

 

Head researcher, Dr Manabu Sakamoto, a paleontologist from the University of Reading, said:  "We were not expecting this result."

 

"Even though they were wiped out ultimately by the impact of the asteroid, they were actually already on their way out around 50 million years before the asteroid hit."

 

Co-author Dr Chris Venditti, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Reading, added:

 

"The current widespread view is that dinosaurs were reigning strong right up to the impact that hit the Earth - and it's the impact that drove their final extinction," he said.

 

"And while that's certainly true, what we found was that they were on the decline long before that."