What Would Happen If Dinosaurs Still Roamed the Earth?

Sure, crocodiles, lizards and birds give us a glimpse at what dinosaurs were like back when they ruled the earth but in reality, they’re well and truly extinct. That said, had a six mile long asteroid called Chicxulub not hit the earth 65 million years ago, life as we know it could be a whole lot different.

Bringing the dinosaurs back to life

For decades, researchers have been experimenting with the idea of using preserved DNA to clone long extinct dinosaurs. Sound familiar? The Jurassic Park films toyed with the idea but while they were entirely fictional, recovery efforts do exist in real life. In Japan scientists are attempting to clone a woolly mammoth that lived over 8000 years ago.    

While scientists may dream of cloning dinosaurs, the reality is another story. As the giants last roamed over 65 million years ago the chances of finding intact DNA fragments suitable for cloning are slim.

A far-fetched scenario

Now we’ve explored why dinosaurs don’t still roam the earth, let’s take a look at what the world would be like if they did. When the meteor struck it took down the dinosaurs and paved the way for mammal diversification. While before they’d been unable to evolve past rodent like stages, post meteor they thrived which led to the development of primates. Millions of years later these primates gradually evolved into humans. Given the fact that the downfall of the dinosaurs led to the uprise of mammals and humans, it’s feasible to say that we wouldn’t be here today if Chicxulub hadn’t collided with planet earth.

Of course, there are a plethora of scenarios that could have completely wiped out the dinosaurs, even if Chicxulub hadn’t hit. Even the smallest of climate or atmospheric compositions can trigger drastic changes in the environment that shake up the ecological balance and reimagine life as it currently exists.

Some scientists argue dinosaurs DO still exist

As we mentioned above, some animals do echo characteristics of dinosaurs which leads scientists to claim that they do technically still exist. Evolution and extinction events have just somewhat altered our perceptions of them.

Today scientists use cutting edge techniques to uncover the mysteries of extinction and evolution. ‘Proteomics, Genomics & Microarrays - Spotlight - Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Dinosaur Fossils Strengthens Evolutionary Linkages’ explores the topic, with a focus on the architecture of bones.