# Insects killed the dinosaurs ... ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 7, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662 "2008-01-07T23:48:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/1 "2008-01-07T23:48:45Z")
Saw this article from the Independent: [http://news.independent.co.uk/sci\_tech/article3315197.ece](http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3315197.ece) > [@](#): > > Biting insects might have brought down the mighty dinosaurs rather than a cataclysmic meteor impact, a new theory claims. > > Disease spread by ancient mosquitoes, mites and ticks was probably the major factor that finished off the extinct reptiles, say scientists. > > Insects could have also made it harder for dinosaurs to survive by changing the nature of plant life on Earth. > > Bees and other pollinators helped to promote the rapid spread of flowering plants, leading to the loss of vegetarian dinosaurs’ traditional food sources. As the plant-eating dinosaurs declined, so would their predators. Well, (1) I don’t see any evidence in this story (in the later quotes with the OSU researcher) that the scientists found NO parasites in earlier vertebrate populations, just that the dinosaurs had them. (Don’t all of us vertebrates, nowadays?) And (2) I thought that many herbivorous dinosaurs **were** flower-eaters! How would more flowers wipe them out? ---
**Author:** ![Grendel\_s\_Father](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grendel\_s\_Father](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel_s_Father)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/2 "2008-01-08T02:11:32Z")
Any good theory regarding what caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period needs to take into account the fact that dinosaurs weren’t the only major group of organisms to go extinct. Specifically, the fact that a massive amount of marine life also became extinct at that time. Are we supposed to assume that the same disease-bearing mites and insects wiped out the [ammonites](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonite)? Of course it’s entirely possible that the dinos were on their way out before the _real_ mass extinction occurred and wiped out all the marine life, and finished them off. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/3 "2008-01-08T02:17:57Z")
No, it was dogs. But GOD blessed them all, saying, Be fruitful and multiply but Evolve Not. And GOD looked upon the species he hath made, and saw that the earth was exceedingly crowded, and he said unto them, Let each species compete for what it needed; for Healthy Competition is My Law. And the species competeth amongst themselves, the cattle and the creeping things; and some madeth it and some didn’t; and the dogs ate the dinosaurs and GOD was pleased. And GOD took the bones from the dinosaurs, and caused them to appear mighty old; and cast he them about the land and the sea. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/4 "2008-01-08T02:31:08Z")
Nice, **Johhny.** The only thing missing was the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/5 "2008-01-08T02:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] Nice, **Johhny.** The only thing missing was the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. [/QUOTE] [Here’s](http://home.tiac.net/~cri/1998/weekone.html) the first part of Genesis from [_Not The Bible_](http://www.amazon.com/Not-Bible-Sean-Kelly/dp/0345302494/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199759727&sr=8-1) (The World’s #2 Best Seller!). (Sorry for the hijack.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/6 "2008-01-08T04:57:58Z")
It’s purest nonsense, at least the way that it’s reported in that article. As far as we can tell, the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous happened far too quickly (not over “millions of years”) and included too many ecologically disparate groups for a cause such as insect parasites to have caused it. [QUOTE=toadspittle] And (2) I thought that many herbivorous dinosaurs were flower-eaters! How would more flowers wipe them out? [/QUOTE] It has been theorized by some that the spread of angiosperms (flowering plants) during the Cretaceous at the expense of the gymnosperms could have been a problem for herbivorous dinosaurs because angiosperms contained some innovative compounds that made them more difficult for herbivores to eat. This is also silly, because herbivorous dinosaurs would undoubtedly have been able to adapt. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/7 "2008-01-08T05:27:41Z")
The ol’ mass extinction by constipation theory. That one’s a gas 😛 ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/8 "2008-01-08T08:34:43Z")
Maybe them were [really big insects](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/)? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insects-killed-the-dinosaurs/432662/9 "2008-01-08T16:19:05Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] Maybe them were [really big insects](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047573/)? 😉 [/QUOTE] You don’t want them to get under your skin!