ntologists have been pondering the demise of the dinosaurs. Over a hundred theories have been produced to explain this mass extinction (Psihoyos 255). The dinosaurs may have died because, "the weather got too hot," ; "the weather got too cold," ; "the weather got too dry," ; "the weather got too wet," ; "the weather became too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter," ; "the land became too hilly," ; "new kinds of plants evolved which poisoned all the dinosaurs," ; "new kinds of insects evolved which spread deadly diseases," ; "new kinds of mammals evolved which competed for food," ; "new kinds of animals evolved which ate all of the dinosaurs' eggs," ; "a giant meteor hit the earth," ; "a supernova exploded near the earth," ; "cosmic rays bombarded the earth," ; or "massive volcanoes erupted all over the earth at once (Bakker 425)." Scientists' beliefs seem to fall into two basic common positions, the Catastrophists, and the Gradualists (Psihoyos 255). The Catastrophists believe that a huge catastrophic event took place, killing all of the dinosaurs. The most popular theory of the Catastrophists is the asteroid theory. An asteroid called Chicxulub hit the earth creating a 150 mile wide crater near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The date this asteroid hit the earth was sometime about 65.7 million years ago, just about the time the dinosaurs died (Psihoyos 255). When this two-mile-wide asteroid hit the earth, it probably shattered and sent tons and tons of asteroid-earth dust into the stratosphere. The lack of light caused by the dust blocking out the sun would have caused many plants to die out, leaving plant eating dinosaurs to die, and with no herbivores to hunt, the carnivorous dinosaurs would die out, the domino effect (Krishtalka 19-20). This event also would have frozen the earth, another reason why it would kill all of the dinosaurs. No one can prove this theory, but it is one of the most recent theories among scientists these days, as to what killed off all of the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were around for roughly 140 million years. They were the ruling beasts of the earth for this whole period. Then, 65 million years ago the dinosaurs just all died. None flying through the air, none swimming in the water, none walking on land. They were all just gone. "The death of the dinosaurs was the biggest mass exti

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Approximate Word count = 1573
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)