It's Asteroids, All Along..

Just yesterday, while watching National Geographic with my father about pterosaurs (the flying dinosour), we had a discussion about how dinosaurs were wiped out. And today, a consensus has been reached saying that asteroids is the cause. It is said that the asteroid crashed into Chicxulub in Mexico (this place is now actually a 180 km wide crater).

. : Picture taken from Wikipedia.org showing an impression of the impact : .

The impact is so tremendous that it is equal to the force of a billion atomic bombs that descended on Hiroshima, imagine that. Of course, this is a long time ago, and what we do have are speculations, but these are grounded in evidences found. Nevertheless, with that kind of impact, all living things in the vicinity would be destroyed in a blink of an eye, but how about those far away?

Well, after the explosion, the debris and ash would have filled the atmosphere therefore blocking the sunlight, leading to sudden climate change (no energy from the sun means its cold; winter), deaths of photosynthetic organisms (which is the main food for herbivores leading to their deaths and causing the predators to be wiped out due to the dwindling food supply). And, because dinosaurs were reptiles, which means that it is cold-blooded, they could not adapt to the cold surroundings as effectively as mammals. I remember reading that reptiles had to bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature (when the habitat they live in is cold), or employ other creative means to lower down the heat when its too hot. Of course this is just my speculation based on observations; have to read more about this later.. LoL..

Oh well, it is interesting to read about. Do come here if you want to read the gist of it. And its 1-0 for me.. Heehee..

Till next time!
=)