Jump to content

New theory on dinosaur extinction


bristol

Recommended Posts

anyone else notice that this event took place 70 million years before the dinosaurs went extinct?

Minor problem that.

 

I suspect the problem is with some stupid newsie who read to much into some scientific report rather than the scientists themselves. I also suspect that this case of bad scientific reporting emanates from some patient zero (to steal an infectious diseases term).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The link wouldn't work for me but you have to wonder how freezing temps would kill off all dinosaurs since they were warm blooded like mammals, and like mammals many had insulation. Many mammals use fur, many dinosaurs used feathers.

 

Evolutions first major lesson:

Fur is warmer than feathers!

 

Interesting article, but interesting and factual don't always run hand in hand :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

New link:

 

http://swns.com/new-evidence-suggests-dinosaurs-wiped-out-by-big-freeze-221417.html

 

Warm-blooded?!

 

I suppose this is one of the many examples where transparency in science journalism lets us down. I'm torn between two opinions here:

 

1) Where media output purports to be accurate scientific truth, it needs to be as transparent as possible so as to inform the public correctly.

 

BUT

 

2) If the content isn't interesting and doesn't have a "hook" then it won't be published or read at all.

 

I think it's important to get science into the media, but there seems to be a problem with it being done well. Anybody have any solutions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes warm blooded, most authorities think that most dinosaurs were indeed warm blooded, especially the theropod dinosaurs. BTW the article says dinosaurs that lived in shallow seas and swamps. the idea of the swamp dinosaurs is totally outdated and there were no known aquatic dinosaurs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes warm blooded, most authorities think that most dinosaurs were indeed warm blooded, especially the theropod dinosaurs. BTW the article says dinosaurs that lived in shallow seas and swamps. the idea of the swamp dinosaurs is totally outdated and there were no known aquatic dinosaurs.

 

Interesting. What are your sources?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. What are your sources?

 

Exactly what do you want sources for?

 

Warm blooded dinosaurs?

 

Dinosaurs lived in polar regions and other cool to cold habitats.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur

 

Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has indicated that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction

 

Modern evidence indicates that dinosaurs thrived in cooler temperate climates, and that at least some dinosaur species must have regulated their body temperature by internal biological means (perhaps aided by the animals' bulk). Evidence of endothermy in dinosaurs includes the discovery of polar dinosaurs in Australia and Antarctica (where they would have experienced a cold, dark six-month winter), the discovery of dinosaurs whose feathers may have provided regulatory insulation, and analysis of blood-vessel structures within dinosaur bone that are typical of endotherms. Skeletal structures suggest that theropods and other dinosaurs had active lifestyles better suited to an endothermic cardiovascular system, while sauropods exhibit fewer endothermic characteristics. It is certainly possible that some dinosaurs were endothermic while others were not. Scientific debate over the specifics continues.[84]

 

 

Swamps being important habitat for dinosaurs?

 

Spinosaurus is the only dinosaur thought to semi aquatic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinosauridae

 

Most dinosaurs were dry land animals, the early depictions of huge dinosaurs hiding from predators in swamps is now thought to be unrealistic due to the body forms of almost all dinosaurs being adapted to upland habitats.

 

Aquatic dinosaurs?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur

 

Many prehistoric animals are popularly conceived of as dinosaurs, such as ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs, and Dimetrodon, but are not classified scientifically as dinosaurs. Marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs, mosasaurs, and plesiosaurs were neither terrestrial nor archosaurs; pterosaurs were archosaurs but not terrestrial; and Dimetrodon was a Permian animal more closely related to mammals

 

No dinosaurs are known to have lived in marine habitats,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... there were no known aquatic dinosaurs.

 

Really? How about:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesosaurus

 

or

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliosaurus

 

considering the vast heat capacity of the oceans, I have to wonder why these dinosaurs are still not around.

 

Edit: Ah, I see the rest of your post where these are now not considered dinosaurs...I did not realize the scientific consensus had changed regarding these animals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really? How about:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesosaurus

 

or

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliosaurus

 

considering the vast heat capacity of the oceans, I have to wonder why these dinosaurs are still not around.

 

You'd have a great point if those animals were dinosaurs but they are not they are marine reptiles not archosaurs. If you had read the link i provided you would have seen the quote

 

No dinosaurs are known to have lived in marine habitats,

 

Edit, they were never considered dinosaurs, they were not archosaurs, popular press had lumped them into the group.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to the link in wikipedia.

Science has progressed a lot, or I am retarded. Both.

 

The article is confusing: reptiles-hot-blooded-birds-dinosaurs, I have to reconsidered all I thought I knew.

 

"Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles." from the link.

I thought reptiles were cold-blooded animals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesosaurus

 

or

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliosaurus

 

considering the vast heat capacity of the oceans, I have to wonder why these dinosaurs are still not around.

 

I now know these were not dinosaurs, but I still have to ask why these animals went extinct. Consider also

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichythyosaur

 

which is nearly identical to today's dolphin. So why do we have dolphins swimming in the ocean and not Ichythyosaurs? I can't imagine the ocean temperature dropping by enough to cause extinction...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I now know these were not dinosaurs, but I still have to ask why these animals went extinct. Consider also

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichythyosaur

 

which is nearly identical to today's dolphin. So why do we have dolphins swimming in the ocean and not Ichythyosaurs? I can't imagine the ocean temperature dropping by enough to cause extinction...

 

From your wiki link

 

Ichthyosaurs seemed to decrease in diversity even further with the Cretaceous. Only three genera are known, Caypullisaurus, Maiaspondylus, and Platypterygius, although they had a worldwide distribution. This last ichthyosaur genus became extinct during the Cenomanian-Turonian extinction event early in the Late Cretaceous (as did the pliosaurs). Interestingly, less hydrodynamically efficient animals like mosasaurs and long-necked plesiosaurs flourished. It could be that the ichthyosaurian over-specialisation was a contributing factor to their extinction, possibly being unable to 'keep up' with the fast swimming and highly evasive new teleost fish, which had become dominant at this time, against which the sit-and-wait ambush strategies of the mosasaurs proved superior (Lingham-Soliar 1999).

 

Dinosaurs were specialized reptiles, Archosaurs, similar but significantly different from other reptiles. Much like mammals being divided into placental and marsupials and even egg laying monotremes. these groups of mammals are quite different from each other, at least as different as archosaurs were from common lizards. Crocodilians are the closest animal alive today to the non avian archosaurs.

 

Warm bloodedness is common in mammals but not all mammals are equally warm blooded and some reptiles, sharks and fish are warm blooded even now. warm blood or cold blood is not a prerequisite to be any particular type of vertebrate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warm bloodedness is common in mammals but not all mammals are equally warm blooded and some reptiles, sharks and fish are warm blooded even now. warm blood or cold blood is not a prerequisite to be any particular type of vertebrate.

 

 

Warm blooded reptiles? Such as...?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
http://swns.com/new-evidence-suggests-dinosaurs-wiped-out-by-big-freeze-231717.html

 

So apparently dinosaurs could have been wiped out by a sudden drop in temperature. But what might have caused the drop?

 

I don't know what caused the tempature drop, but it's a plausible idea as the dark ages were triggered by a lack of food, and the lack of food was triggered by the tempeture in Europe dropping to colder levels than ever before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Warm blooded reptiles? Such as...?

 

Leatherback sea turtles maintain their body temps above ambient, as do great white sharks and tuna. Even some insects maintain their body temps above ambient temps. Some snakes generate enough body heat to brood their eggs, keeping them above ambient temps.

 

Warm blooded is a relative thing and even mammals do not always keep their body temps up, some birds, hummingbirds come to mind, lower their body temps to ambient temps at night when they cannot feed. Many mammals lower their body temps when they are inactive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.