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There is an opinion that the cause of the mass extinction of dinosaurs, which took place 66 million years ago, is the fall of an asteroid to the Earth. Scholars have been debating whether this was true for the past two centuries. Live Science writes about it.
According to paleontology father Georges Cuvier, dinosaurs died out due to a catastrophe. In turn, Charles Darwin cited gradual changes in the environment and competition between species as the cause of their extinction.
A study of the fossils of abelisaurs found in Morocco, which are distant relatives of tyrannosaurs, showed that they died "in their prime." The culprit of the death of African dinosaurs is a huge asteroid.
The length of the abelisaurus was about 5 meters. The discovery of its fossils in Morocco may indicate that during the time of the dinosaurs, the continents were connected to each other by land. However, it is possible that dinosaurs swam the narrow sea route in search of food.
One thing can be said for sure: the dinosaurs did not die out because of climate change, as in that case they would have died out gradually. The version with a catastrophe that led to the one-time death of dinosaurs seems more plausible to the authors of the study.
