Scientists say that dinosaurs was not convicted when an asteroid reached Earth. Fossil discoveries before the asteroid collision at the end of the Cretaceous time show that dinosaurs were losing variety and numbers. At first some scientists thought this change showed that dinosaurs were going to extinction even before the fatal incident of the asteroid. However, this concept has been argumentative for a long time, with other researchers insisting that dinosaur diversity was doing very well at the time of its loss of lives.
Challenging the longtime narrative
According to a report By live science, the visible rarity of dinosaurs before their extinction can only be due to a low record of fossils. Four families are failed – that is, the ankylosauridae, keratopsidae, Hadrosauridae and Tyrannosauridae – scientists’ studies reveal approximately 8,000 North America fossils dating from Campanian age (83.6 million to 72.1 million years ago) and the age of Maestrichtian (72.1 million years).
The dinosaur track reached peak 76 million years ago and began to shrink after the asteroid The collision eliminated the non -won dinosaurs. This drift was more pronounced than in 6 million years before mass annihilation, with the number of fossils of all four families reducing in the geological record.
Fossil records and statistical models paint a new image
Covered or obscured vegetation geological outcrops of the Maastrichtian period in North America. Specifically, the rock from this moment that may contain dinosaur fossils was not easily accessible to researchers looking for them. Study encapsulation may also have worldwide branch due to North America that the home of half of this era’s family fossils.
A catastrophic exception, not a gradual end
There is no evidence of environmental Conditions or other aspects that would specifically elaborate the reason for this decline, the researchers arrived. All dinosaurs were distant, as models arise to be developed by researchers and, consequently, at low risk of extinction, except a catastrophic event, such as the asteroid effect.
In the group of 8,000 fossil records evaluated, the team found that Ceratopsians – a group that includes dinosaurs with horns such as triceratops and their relatives – were the most common; They probably inhabited clear regions that were more conducive to preservation during the Maastrichtian era.