New Dinosaur Extinction Theory - Blame the Deccan Trappes

New Study Points Finger at Deccan Traps for Extinction Event

In 1980, American scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez published their theory regarding an extra-terrestrial body impacting with the Earth, causing the mass extinction event that marked the end of the Age of Reptiles. The discovery of the Chicxulub crater in the Gulf of Mexico, the "smoking gun" evidence in the 1990's added credence to this theory put forward by the father and son team.

Recent studies of the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and the outer planets had led one group of scientists to deduce the fate of the dinosaurs was sealed back in the Jurassic when an impact between huge asteroids sent one immense lump of space rock on a collision course with Earth.

Nigersaurus - The Dinosaur That Thought It Was a Lawn Mower

Nigersaurus - A Bizarre African Sauropod

As Dinosaurs dominated life on Earth during the latter part of the Mesozoic they diversified into many varied forms, each genus adapting to a specific way of life and filling an ecological niche.

Further research has just been published (November 2007) on a particularly bizarre looking sauropod from Africa - Nigersaurus.

Nigersaurus was first described in 1976 but little was known about this Diplodocoid sauropod as although many isolated bones and fragments of fossils had been recovered very few were found in any form of association or articulation, so piecing together a complete picture of this animal was proving difficult.