Are Dinosaurs Still Alive? Exploring the Extinction and Evolution of Dinosaurs

KOMPAS.com – There are those who believe that dinosaurs are still left on Earth and are now living in secret in several places.

These places include Loch Ness in Scotland, Lake Okanagan in Canada, Lake Champlain in America, to Lake Nahuel in Argentina.

Many believe that the lakes were inhabited by animals that looked like plesiosaurs or ichthyosaurs.
So, is it true that there are still dinosaurs that have not become extinct?

The extinction of the dinosaurs tens of millions of years ago

According to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), there is no scientific evidence to suggest that any dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor, Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, or Triceratops, were still alive today.

Also read: Did Dinosaurs Get Diseased?

All non-avian dinosaurs became extinct at least 65 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

However, scientifically, not all types of dinosaurs became extinct. Birds are modern versions of dinosaurs.

In an evolutionary sense, birds are a group of living dinosaurs because they are descended from a common ancestor of all dinosaurs.

Many of the same evolutionary characteristics can be found in the skeletons of birds and other dinosaurs.

The development of this evolutionary innovation can be traced by following the evolutionary tree of dinosaurs, from larger to smaller groups in succession.

Also read: How Did Dinosaurs Communicate?

The cause of the extinction of the dinosaurs

The impact that ended the era of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago was one of the worst Femina ever experienced by life on Earth.

An asteroid 9.6 km wide, called Chicxulub, hit the waters in what is now Mexico, triggering a mass extinction that killed more than 75 percent of Earth’s species.

Reporting from National Geographic, at that time, an unexpected strong earthquake shook and rolled the Earth’s crust. A tsunami more than 45 meters high hit the coast of North America.

In addition, forest fires flared hundreds of km away from the impact site. This is caused by the searing heat from the asteroid’s initial impact plume and the debris erupt that followed.

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2023-07-16 12:00:00
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