According to new research and evidence from the experts (who may or may not also be lawyers for the giant asteroid), dinosaurs were victims of some really bad luck that led to their extinction.
We've had some bad luck before, like when we lost our wallet or had our jacket knicked in the pub, but nothing on the scale of what the dinosaurs experienced around 66 million years back, it would seem.
In case you didn't know, the general theory is that an asteroid hit earth somewhere near Mexico and wiped them all out, but it seems that wasn't the only culprit to blame, as new research from a team of palaeontologists led by the University of Edinburgh suggests that a number of factors were at play.
Volcanic activity, changing sea levels and varying temperatures had weakened the food chain for the dinosaurs, leaving them ill-equipped to survive as they were already at a particularly weak point, so that when the asteroid hit, they didn't stand a chance.
According to The Examiner, the impact of the asteroid caused "tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires, sudden temperature swings and other environmental changes" that they simply couldn't cope with, but had the impact been either a few million years earlier or indeed a bit later, they may well have been in a better position to live on.
As a result, Dr Steve Brusatte, who was part of the team, drew the conclusion that the dinosaurs were "victims of colossal bad luck". While all that might be true, we still have our suspicions about that 10km-wide asteroid...
Via The Irish Examiner. Main pic via Wikipedia
