Why did the Tylosaurus become extinct?
Tylosaurus went extinct along with the other Mesozoic reptiles around 65 million years ago during the K-T mass extinction event. The mass extinction took out all the non-avian dinosaurs and mosasaurs, with acidifying oceans and falling sea levels among other things. None of the mosasaurs were capable of surviving such changes so rapidly.Even without the mass extinction, Tylosaurus would have been outcompeted by the smaller, more versatile sharks.
What would happen if all the carnivores went extinct?
First, there’s the expected rejoice by the vegetarians that the rest of the world’s animals have caught up with them. Then there’s the destruction.Without any predators aside from humans, herbivore populations will spike like never before. The whole earth will turn into an all-you-can-eat salad bar, with everyone invited. These gentle plant-munching creatures will be eating to their heart’s desire, and having cute little babies left and right.Anyone with a garden knows what happens when deer get into it. Multiply that by several million more herbivores, and the spike in herbivores will eventually lead to a crash, as resources are depleted. Most herbivores—save for exceptions like Giant pandas and Koalas—are fairly resourceful and will branch out to new food sources. More and more animals will turn to bark, pine needles, or other low-nutrition food sources to sustain themselves, but their bodies and numbers will rapidly thin.In some cases, they might even turn to meat-eating to survive: In a Never-Before Seen Behavior, Deer Spotted Gnawing Human FleshLooking into the next few decades, some more pressing issues would emerge. Forests that were already in danger would be stripped of much of their undergrowth and bark. Younger trees would be killed off entirely by starving herbivores. Old growth would probably fare better than the tiny mulch-volcanoed trees you see in fancy neighborhoods these days, but it still wouldn’t be a pretty picture.Without birds to keep their populations in check, certain insect populations would spike, assuming they were also herbivorous insects. (Not sure what would happen to mosquitoes, given that males are generally benign flower-loving things.)In time, it’s expected that there will be cyclical spikes and crashes in herbivore populations over time, until either humans go on a meat-eating spree to keep the populations in check, or herbivores develop a taste for meat as well.You’d never have to mow your lawn, at least.
Is overpopulation going to be the cause of Earth's extinction?
Resources like oil and metal ores get depleted. Capitalist economy makes it impossible to stop.So the current civilization will not last into 22nd century. It means humanity will most likely extinct.Not because of overpopulation, but because of consumerist society.
What would happen if dinosaurs never went extinct?
You’re not going to like this answer, but… the dinosaurs aren’t extinct.We just didn’t understand what dinosaurs WERE. We had this idea of what a reptile was — a cold-blooded scaly animal. But we slowly began to realize that dinosaurs weren’t cold-blooded.And then, out of China, we got the final piece to the puzzle.Feathers. Most of the later theropod dinosaurs had feathers. A nice fluffy coating of them. We’ve found dozens of fossils now with feather imprints on everything from little maniraptorans to huge therizinosaurs. And the pinnacle — the huge, carnivorous Yutyrannus huali. All downy and feathered.And then came this:A piece of amber, cut and polished, found in a market. See the feathers? But that isn’t a part of a bird. It’s the tail of a coelurosaur. A dinosaur tail, in amber.But that means dinosaurs were warm-blooded animals — mesotherms and endotherms. And the feathers mean…Well, they mean that birds aren’t special. They mean birds aren’t DIFFERENT. There’s nothing about birds to set them apart from dinosaurs. They didn’t just evolve from dinosaurs.They ARE dinosaurs.Just as a few species of mammals survived the K-Pg Extinction Event, so did a few species of dinosaurs. They happened to be from the avian branch. Perhaps they clung to life because they could fly, and because they were small. (Nothing large made it through the event). Bats can fly, and we still call them mammals. So, birds can fly — and we still call them dinosaurs.In fact, there are more species of dinosaurs alive today than there are species of mammals. They’re still incredibly successful. It’s true, most of them are small.But that’s why they will survive, if another Chicxulub occurs. So who’s really on top now?As for the non-avian dinosaurs… if the Chicxulub asteroid strike hadn’t occurred, we would never have evolved. We COULD never have evolved. Dinosaurs and mammals evolved around the same time, and dinosaurs were simply better. They beat mammals fair and square.After the world was blasted, well, they let mammals have the land. The air was simply too good for them to give it up very often. Although, when they do… they compete just fine. In some of the most vicious conditions on Earth, against the most formidable land predators the planet has ever seen — including humans.They’re still around, and still holding their own.Moving from pole to pole with the seasons, they still rule the world.
What are some theories regarding the dinosaurs' extinction?
Probably the most popular theory right now is the Asteroid Theory. According to this theory a large asteroid or comet collided with Earth about 65 million years ago. Scientists think that such a large collision would throw so much dust into the air that sunlight would not be able to shine and plants and animals would die. The dramatic changes in climate that resulted from this huge collision were too much for the dinosaurs. They were not able to survive.Another theory that could explain how the dinosaurs became extinct is volcanic activity. A huge increase in volcanic activity at around 65 millions years ago could have pumped so much ash into the air that it blocked out the sun killing the dinosaurs.Some scientists believe that there was a severe ice age. Throughout Earth's history there have been many ice ages. The last one ended about 10,000 years ago. A very severe ice age could have changed temperatures and frozen a lot of Earth's water. The dinosaurs would not be able live under such conditions and that is how the dinosaurs became extinct.It has also been suggested that desease killed off the dinosaurs. A very deadly and contagious desease may have circulated among the dinosaurs forcing them to become extinct.Still yet another theory is that the Earth just gradually changed in climate over a long time period and the dinosaurs were not able to adapt to the cooler, dryer climate.Here are some more: The Ten Most Bizarre Theories About Why the Dinosaurs Went Extinct
Why did the Megalodon become extinct?
It’s always very difficult to say for sure why a species went extinct, especially since many factors may be involved. But here’s what studies have told us about C. megalodon.Fossils clearly indicate the extinction of C. megalodon by around 2.6 million years ago (no matter what the fake Discovery documentaries say…). This is around the time the latest Ice Age was getting started, and long before modern humans appeared.Because it went extinct during a time of significant climate change, it’s tempting to say these sharks died out due to the cooling temperatures, but that may not be the case. A recent study found that C. megalodon was in decline long before its ultimate extinction, and found no good correlation between the species’ decline and temperature changes.Instead, that study found that the dropping abundance of C. megalodon coincided with dropping diversity of ancient filter-feeding whales – there is fossil evidence that C. megalodon fed upon small baleen whales – as well as the appearance of modern large predators like carnivorous whales and the great white shark.So based on what we know, C. megalodon seems to have gradually disappeared as the whales it fed upon diminished. This may have been exacerbated by the presence of competing large predators.