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What caused the dinosaurs to die?

This is where you can discuss your homework, family, just about anything, make strange sounds and otherwise discuss things which are really not related to the Lancer-series. Yes that means you can discuss other games.

Post Mon Dec 26, 2005 11:40 am

Now that you mention it, common birds did in fact evolve from dinosaurs

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 11:52 am

Very true.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:41 pm

did in fact? where's yer proof?

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:41 pm

The chickens had there genes seqenced. It gives proven facts that some dinosaurs did in fact evolve into the chicken. Plus they bone structures are similar.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 1:59 pm

if there's "proof" i want to see it.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:49 pm

time ..time..TIME!!! everything seem to boil down to time or more to the point mans consept of time this also includes telling it.. hours,days,and years.. these are the terms we love to use. we fight to uphold and defend to the last but what is time.. to us as i said before hours, days,etc.... to god or gods what is time.... is one day a measure of 24hrs or 2.5billion years??? no one knows...sorry NO MAN KNOWS....and none who live can tell us or maybe they can in the history of our world,solar system, etc..what we call science might be us looking at god footsteps in awe.... or nothing more than a freak accident so we can argue about dinosaurs and is Trex related to a chicken? (kfc will love that) oh!! by the way the flood did happen if u check out the history and people of the black sea in there legends they all talk about a great flood.

death is the last great adventure.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:59 pm

Comparison of fossils of Cretaceous era birds and those of feathered therapod dinosaurs (mostly discovered fairly recently and there are still loads coming from digs in China) suggest that birds have evolved from dinosaurs (the dromaesaurid/troodontid group in particular).
The most famous example would be archaeopteryx, an ancient bird that had several characteristics in common with dinosaurs. It had a toothed beak, long tail (rather than flight feathers) and clawed fingers. In fact archaeopteryx is often mistaken for compsognathus when no feather imprints are found on the fossil.
Dinosaurs and birds both use gizzard stones to help digest food, there is evidence that troodontids held a similar sleeping posture to birds with head tucked under forelimb and there's a slew of small bone formations peculiar to birds that appear in several species of dromaesaur and troodontid. Check out this wiki article on the subject or at the very least take a look at the archaeopteryx skeleton

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:33 pm

now that what i call proof.

death is the last great adventure.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 5:48 pm

Yes it is!

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 6:49 pm

If dinosaurse evolved into chickens, I want proof, show me the drumstick.

Post Tue Dec 27, 2005 7:06 pm

@Rec....

Don't forget the bones, the similarity in weight saving construction that can be seen in development among those dinosaur species and taken to more improved versions among the birds.

Post Wed Dec 28, 2005 9:24 am

You mean the internal structure? I've got to admit I'm kinda hazy on the subject, I read a ridiculous amount of stuff on dinosaurs as a kid, but these days I just check out the occasional piece of news on new discoveries. If I recall there was some debate over the cross-section of dinosaur bones (this is from over a decade ago now!). It was definitely not reptilian but shared quite a resemblance to avian and mammalian bone structure, suggesting that they were warm-blooded. The cross-section is far more irregular with room for larger vessels inside to feed the bone cells during growth. Reptiles grow slowly throughout their lifetime, whereas warm-blooded creatures are capable of growing to adult-size in a very short time. With larger blood vessels throughout the bone, it is much lighter. It's probable that the ancestors of birds would have been gliders. This is backed up by the fossil remains of therapods with flight feathers on all four limbs without the skeletal structure available for powered flight. These gliding creatures would be capable of gliding further with lighter skeletons, which would probably give them a natural advantage over competitors within the same species. Natural selection would advance it towards modern bird bone structure.

If you mean skeletal structure the odd thing is that most of the theropods were saurischian with a forward facing pubis on their hips whereas the ornithischians (meaning bird-like hips) were the squatter dinosaurs such as the ceratopsians, ankylosaurs and stegosaurs with a rear-facing pubis. It seems that birds evolved this hip arrangement separately, you can see that the angle of the pubis is much more swept back in archaeopteryx (see the link in my last post), although I must point out that it is reckoned that archaeopteryx isn't a true ancestor of modern birds but part of an evoltuionary "dead-end" having split from a common ancestor of modern birds, but the comparison still stands.

Post Wed Dec 28, 2005 1:37 pm


did in fact? where's yer proof?

"in fact" was used merely as a filler phrase, as with most of my English. I was not out to imply that this was the absolute, honest, infallible truth. Similarly, there is no "proof" in science, except with regards to theory or empirical study. We only have evidence, which other people have graciously provided for you , which we use to draw sensible and logical conclusions.

Post Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:45 pm

@Rec ...

I meant the general physical construction. The large openings in the head, and the interior "space frame" like configuration which helps to create strong but lighter weight bones, and while advantageous for speed on land, is essential for flight.

Post Sat Dec 31, 2005 11:18 am

I think the plant-eaters ate poisonous plants, which caused them to die. Then the meat-eaters ate the plant eaters which caused them to die. Then came the Ape. Later evolving into you and me, the Human. Or there was just a nice big ice age. Good times......good times.

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