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Some Large Dinosaurs Survived the K-T Extinction

mmmscience sends along coverage from the Examiner on evidence that some dinosaurs survived the extinction event(s) at the end of the Cretaceous period. Here is the original journal article. "A US paleontologist is challenging one of the field's greatest theories: the mass extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period. Jim Fassett, a paleontologist who holds an emeritus position at the US Geological Survey, recently published a paper in Palaeontologia Electronica with evidence that points to a pocket of dinosaurs that somehow survived in remote parts New Mexico and Colorado for up to half a million years past the end of the Cretaceous period. If this theory holds up, these dinosaurs would be the only ones that made it to the Paleocene Age."

39 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. Cavemen? by SultanCemil · · Score: 5, Funny

    So does that mean skimpily clad cavewomen really *did* ride around on dinosaurs? mmmm...

    --
    Cemil.
    1. Re:Cavemen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      not a lost valley, but the Great Valley, noob.

      xoxoxo,
      Littlefoot

    2. Re:Cavemen? by meyekul · · Score: 5, Funny

      The irony is as soon as they step out of the valley, they drop their eye glasses and shatter them on the rocks.

    3. Re:Cavemen? by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yup! Yup! Yup!

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    4. Re:Cavemen? by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      The amphibians were going to gain control, but when the reptilians attacked, all the frogs surrendered.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
    5. Re:Cavemen? by Rip+Dick · · Score: 2, Funny

      but... there was time now...

    6. Re:Cavemen? by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

      To have meet any cavemen they'd have had to survive through the Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene all the way to the Pleistocene era.

      So what you're saying is that they didn't make the 'cene.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    7. Re:Cavemen? by gtall · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bingo, just to fix the time line a bit, humans were thought to have split from apes roughly 6-7 million years ago...except for some valued coworkers here.

    8. Re:Cavemen? by BigBlueOx · · Score: 5, Funny

      The dinosaurs were all largeish - turkey-sized or bigger - with the exception of thos who seem to have evolved into birds, and may have been much smaller because of the nifty invention of feathers.

      Well, it seems from the latest I've read on these things that paleontologists are now a-thinkin that a lot of the big dinosaurs had feathers too. In fact one article I read said that it was quite possible that T-Rex himself looked "like a big chick".

      I remember that article because the image of a 60 foot high "chick" with fluffy baby-feathers coated with the rotting blood and entrails of its victims and flesh-caked teeth the size of stalactites is one that haunts my dreams to this day.

      Oh. You want cites? Ah.

      Look! A bunny! Look at the bunny! (runs away)

    9. Re:Cavemen? by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do you know what 2 week old dead dinosaur smells like? Maybe they could scavenge for awhile but after that I'm sure the mammals would be too disgusted.

      You obviously haven't met my dog.

      I submit as evidence:
      1 dog owned by IndustrialComplex
      1 cat litterbox also owned by IndustrialComplex

      Conclusion:
      IndustrialComplex is disgusted.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    10. Re:Cavemen? by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 2, Funny

      I also highly doubt cavemen (or cavewomen for that matter) had the skill or technology to time travel back to the Paleocene. Afaik only genetically enhanced laboratory mice can do that.

      The Neanderthals did.

      However, they decided that it was easier to use their time machines to go back in time and settle on a continent which is now Antarctica. They built cities underground so that they could avoid disturbing their own ancestors as they continued to develop. Just when the asteroid that wiped out the Dinosaurs was about to hit, they used their now 500 million year advanced technology to leave this planet.

      A few come back from time to time to play pratical jokes on their cousins. Kind of like becoming fantastically wealthy and heading back to your HS reunion.

      --
      Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    11. Re:Cavemen? by StarkRG · · Score: 2, Funny

      Insects are easier to kill than dinosaurs. Or, so I assume as I've never actually tried to kill a dinosaur by smacking it with a newspaper.

  2. Yes....of course... by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 3, Funny

    They're called "birds".... Duh! ;-)

  3. Still with us by Smivs · · Score: 4, Funny

    They are still with us, working for some IT departments. Have you never seen an IEsixosaurus?

    1. Re:Still with us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      no, but I've seen a one-eyed dinosaur-- doyathinkhesaurus

    2. Re:Still with us by RuBLed · · Score: 5, Funny

      MOZIRRAAA!!!

    3. Re:Still with us by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, but there's a machine in the sever room capable of Tri-teraflops.

      --
      Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
  4. You don't have to be so insulting!! by rts008 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, some of us did survive the "alleged 'K-T' Extinction"! And your suppositions bring us *much* hilarity.

    Our day has come!
    Oh, yes...try and laugh, humans; But in bitterness you shall weep!

    We have usurped your world's economy with 'Flintstone's Vitamins'!
    Be prepared to bow down to your new Tasty Dinosaur Overlords!

    signed, Dino.
    *sees Fat Freddie, and runs for driveway* "Yaap!1 Yip! Yappy-kiyay, motherfscker!"-fires AT-4 against Fred-n-Barney*

    --
    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    1. Re:You don't have to be so insulting!! by Mr2cents · · Score: 4, Funny

      Everyone who reads Dilbert already knows this. They're hiding behind the couch.

      --
      "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  5. Re:But of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, yo moma comes to mind

  6. They survived because of God... by VinylRecords · · Score: 4, Funny

    I mean geez people haven't you been keeping up with the latest issues of Creationism Quarterly!
    This stuff is "Peer-reviewed by degreed scientists" it says so right on the website!
    It has "Scholarly articles representing the major scientific disciplines" scientific disciplines like: biology, chemistry, theology, creationism! Duh!
    "Emphasis on scientific evidence supporting: intelligent design, a recent creation, and a catastrophic worldwide flood"!

    http://www.creationresearch.org/crsq.html /sarcasmbrainmelting

  7. Re:Obvious solution... by BabyDave · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Tyranno-saur-us, but did anyone ... [puts on shades] ... see them?"

    [The Who] Bwaaaaaaaaoooo ba ba! (etc)

  8. Re:Obvious solution... by VShael · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know when he takes his glasses off, and looks to the side? He's reading cue cards. Watch for it.

    It's obvious once you're aware of it.

  9. Abybody who knows CowboyNeal... by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Funny

    Some Large Dinosaurs Survived the K-T Extinction

    Abybody who knows CowboyNeal would see this as old news

  10. Re:But of course by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

    You tell them that when a mammy and daddy love each other very much, and want to have a baby, they hug in a very special way...

    That's good, start lying to them young. That's really worked out well for us so far.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  11. Re:Other findings. by Shrike82 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm confused. Is that larger or smaller than a metric fuckload of evidence?

    --
    You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!
  12. Shift in the Earth's rotation? by erroneus · · Score: 2, Funny

    A few days back, the [god-damned-mother-frikken] History Channel did several hours on predictions of the future and more specifically, December 12, 2012 and I got sucked right into it. By the time their series finished for the night, I was wrecked inside with this horrible feeling of doom. (They put together these very compelling presentations with pictures and music...really sets a dramatic mood! and when you are staying up too late... well even the most resistant people can fall victim I think.)

    In any case, the most interesting theory surrounding the projected end of the world day is that the rotational axis of the earth will change resulting in massive geologic events. What's more, they suggested that the earth had gone through this kind of change before and was a potential cause of the mass extinction events in the past.

    I don't claim to know much about all that, but I have to remind myself that this was the FIRST time I had heard about rotational axis shifting (but not the first time I had heard of magnetic polar shifting) and definitely the first time I had heard of rotational axis shifting being cited as the cause of mass extinction events.

    Who knows more about this than I do? Got anything to debunk or verify what I recall from late-night TV watching?

  13. Even more in middle management by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Lots of dinosaurs hiding out in Corporate America's middle management layers. A few make it to upper management or to the executive suites.

    Q: What do you call a company with too many dinosaurs in the executive suites?
    A: Bankrupt. *cue rim-shot*

  14. Quantum Mechanics... by Shivinski · · Score: 2, Funny

    As with most articles lately, it'll probably emerge that quantum mechanics is behind the survival of these select few dinosaurs.

    1. Re:Quantum Mechanics... by Qzukk · · Score: 5, Funny

      it'll probably emerge that quantum mechanics is behind the survival of these select few dinosaurs.

      Quantum Mechanics can't save the dinosaurs. For a job this big, we need String Theory.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  15. I think you meme... err, mean... by jonaskoelker · · Score: 4, Funny

    in the time it takes to post this comment another 2 "Cave chicks go Rex riding" websites will have been created.

    I think you mean "2 Girls 1 Rex"

  16. Re:I keep dinosaurs in my garden by maxume · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does it make them angry?

    --
    Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
  17. Re:But of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Awww crap.

    What am I going to do with these 35 Anal bead sets and ball gags? I was supposed to teach 3rd grade Sex ed this week...

    Dammit! Let me guess, you're going to tell me that scat and explaining the dirty sanchez is out as well..

    Damn you Conservatives!

  18. Re:But of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    well, "hug in a very special way..." sounds much better than "What didn't get shot into mommy's face became you" or "You are what didn't leak out"

    Or in your case, "Your daddy was the one who could afford mommy for the whole night"

  19. Re:So was anyone else... by koiransuklaa · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's a new mount option, right? I'll start using that right away, I don't want my filesystems wasting time updating those shark stamps on my files.

  20. Re:I keep dinosaurs in my garden by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    only I call them "chickens".

    Tyrannosaurus Clux

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  21. Damn Time Travelers, & circular time travel lo by jameskojiro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here is the theory,

    Scientists in the 1980's Wondered why no Dinosaurs after 65 MYA, so they found the K-T event impact crater and assumed it was the event that killed off all of the Dinosaurs.

    So later in 2040's when we invent Time Travel, people of course want to go back and see the dinosaurs, so they all go back to the day before the K-T impact and watch the dinosaurs and they figure, hey since they will be relatively extinct tomorrow then why not shoot them and take a few trophy's back with them, plus they are good eatin'....

    So by the next day when the Asteroid impacts the Earth most all of the dinosaurs have been hunted to extinction in one day from all of those time travelers going back to the same day before the Asteroid. A few pockets of Dinosaurs Survived the massive hunt because the time travel machines don't work quite right in some areas of on the earth due to magnetite deposits in certain areas. Those few dinos that survived the day before massive hunt and the Asteroid impact didn't have enough genetic diversity to survive and thus died off a little after 65 MYA.

    So we killed off the Dinosaurs to make true the extinction we have always had in our fossil record.

    The good news is that besides hunting they took some live Dinosaurs forward to the 2040's and they are being bred to replace chicken which have gone extinct due to the avian flu.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
  22. Re:Other findings. by wastedlife · · Score: 2, Funny

    At the moment, the King's edict is that the imperial fuckload is larger. However, a metric shit-tonne remains larger still. You could pour 4,516 gill of treacle into a barrel and it would only weigh about half a shit-tonne.

    --
    Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"
  23. Re:Other findings. by wastedlife · · Score: 3, Funny

    How many cubic handbreadths of dark ale equals one arse-load again? I have 68 furlongs to drive home and I need to know how much Guinness to bring. I know I can drink about a third of an arse-load in 26 furlongs, but the stupid store here sells by the cubic handbreadth and my phone does not have the proper conversion tools. Damn technology does everything in the world as long as it isn't useful.

    --
    Said, "It's just like dice but it's got more sides And it tells me who lives and who dies"