WEWOULDN’THAVE
RECOGNISEDTHEM
Saythatspecies-extinctionasteroid
hadn’thitMexico 66 millionyears
agoandlifeonEarthhadcontinued
apace.Well-knowndinosaurslikethe
Triceratops“wouldbetotallydiffer-
entthananythingweknowfromthe
fossilrecord,”sciencewriterBrian
SwitekwroteinTheGuardian. Why?
They,too,wouldhavecontinuedto
adapt.“Theremightevenbenew
groupsofdinosaursthatdidn’texist
duringtheMesozoicera.”Buteven
extinctdinosaurslookednothinglike
whatmostpeople believed when they
werekids.
INFACT,WEMIGHTNEVER
HAVESEENTHEMATALL
Why?It’slikelythat,withdinosaurs
remainingonourplanet,humans
andmanyothermammalswould
nothavehadthechancetoevolve
intoexistence.“Eventhoughmam-
malsthrivedintheshadowofthe
dinosaurs,theydidsoatsmallsiz-
es,”writesSwitek.“Andeventhough
theveryfirstprimateshadevolved
bytheendofthedinosaurianreign,
theyhadmoreincommonwitha tree
shrewthanwithyouorme.”
ITWOULDNOTLOOK
LIKEJURASSICPARK
Themovietooka lotoflibertieswith
thepossible,wrotebiologistBen
WaggonerinForbes. “Dilophosaurus,
thecritterthatspits poison in Wayne
Knight’sface,livedabout 120 million
yearsand10,000kilometresawayfrom
Velociraptor, thecrittersthatateBob
Peck.”Soifalltheextinctdinosaurs
suddenlystartedroamingtheEarth
togetheratthesametime...well,
you’dhaveutterecologicalchaos.PARTOFTHECHAOS?
DEADHERBIVORES
Plant eaterslikeEdmontosaurus,
snackingonthediversityofflowering
plantsthatexisttoday,wouldlikely
havegottensickandperhapseven
died.Attheveryleast,wroteWaggon-
er,theymighthavejustspenttheir
wholeliveshallucinating.Thechem-
icalmakeupofmodernplantsisn’t
anythinglikewhatdinosaurbiology
wasmeanttohandle.Morepalatable
plantsmighthavebeencompletely
decimated by the hungry creatures.104 April 2020
READER’S DIGEST
Some orall
dinosaursmay
have grown into
smaller animals