• Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertise
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
  • Login
No Result
View All Result
Birmingham Times
  • Home
  • UK News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Sports
    When is the Rugby World Cup 2023? TV channel, stream FREE, tickets and pools for huge tournament

    When is the Rugby World Cup 2023? TV channel, stream FREE, tickets and pools for huge tournament

    Childcare funding will be paid upfront to poorer working parents in win for The Sun’s campaign

    Childcare funding will be paid upfront to poorer working parents in win for The Sun’s campaign

    I was a star international athlete known for being a hardman – but I moved hundreds of miles away for very different job

    I was a star international athlete known for being a hardman – but I moved hundreds of miles away for very different job

    Horror moment daredevil shatters his legs as base jump goes badly wrong leaving him stuck on a mountain for 17 hours

    Horror moment daredevil shatters his legs as base jump goes badly wrong leaving him stuck on a mountain for 17 hours

    Former European champs Wasps demoted to BOTTOM of English League pyramid after having Championship licence revoked

    Former European champs Wasps demoted to BOTTOM of English League pyramid after having Championship licence revoked

    My son’s grandparents smoke while babysitting him but my husband won’t back me

    My son’s grandparents smoke while babysitting him but my husband won’t back me

    TikTok Women’s Six Nations preview as England expected to run riot against winless Ireland

    TikTok Women’s Six Nations preview as England expected to run riot against winless Ireland

    Britain’s Got Talent in fresh fix row as Golden Buzzer act was on huge rival talent show – and fans are fuming

    Britain’s Got Talent in fresh fix row as Golden Buzzer act was on huge rival talent show – and fans are fuming

    England seal stunning Six Nations Grand Slam with incredible 38-33 win over France in front of record crowd

    England seal stunning Six Nations Grand Slam with incredible 38-33 win over France in front of record crowd

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • food
    • Health
    • Travel
    My ‘lazy girl’ meal is nutritious and tastes amazing – you only need 5 ingredients, it’s the easiest and I’m obsessed

    My ‘lazy girl’ meal is nutritious and tastes amazing – you only need 5 ingredients, it’s the easiest and I’m obsessed

    Have your Notting Hill moment and take a peak inside London’s idyllic community gardens

    Have your Notting Hill moment and take a peak inside London’s idyllic community gardens

    Woman in white robe holding toothbrush with paste.

    The Importance of Daily Brushing for Optimal Oral Health – National Smile Month UK

    Revolutionize Your Health: Support Omega 369 – The Ultimate Wellness Breakthrough!

    Revolutionize Your Health: Support Omega 369 – The Ultimate Wellness Breakthrough!

    I’m a single mum & nurse & did a food shop in Tesco – it’s soul destroying putting the food away, I barely got anything

    I’m a single mum & nurse & did a food shop in Tesco – it’s soul destroying putting the food away, I barely got anything

    What is skiplagging, and why are airlines not happy about it?

    What is skiplagging, and why are airlines not happy about it?

    My easy, cheesy recipe is so fun for a quick midweek meal – it’s only 3 ingredients, the crowd will go crazy for them

    My easy, cheesy recipe is so fun for a quick midweek meal – it’s only 3 ingredients, the crowd will go crazy for them

    London-themed resort in China has Big Ben, Abbey Road and double-decker buses

    London-themed resort in China has Big Ben, Abbey Road and double-decker buses

    I cleared the shelves of a 19p Farmfoods favourite – I’m trolled but if I hadn’t nabbed them someone else would’ve

    I cleared the shelves of a 19p Farmfoods favourite – I’m trolled but if I hadn’t nabbed them someone else would’ve

    The best way to see Crete? Get away from the tourists – here’s how…

    The best way to see Crete? Get away from the tourists – here’s how…

    Trending Tags

    • Golden Globes
    • Mr. Robot
    • MotoGP 2017
    • Climate Change
    • Flat Earth
  • Health
  • Opinion
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Sports
  • More
    • Crypto
    • Press Release
Birmingham Times
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest

by Chandler
April 17, 2022
Reading Time: 17min read
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Reddit


DINOSAURS roamed the Earth for millions of years – until one day, 66 million years ago, an asteroid the size of Mount ­Everest struck the planet, bringing their almost instant annihilation.

Now a landmark new BBC documentary, Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough, uses state-of-the-art special effects to recreate in extraordinary detail, hour by hour, the creatures’ final 24 hours.

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
Getty

An asteroid the size of Mount Everest wiped out the dinosaurs 66million years ago[/caption]

Palaeontologist and Manchester University graduate Robert DePalma has spent years searching a prehistoric dinosaur “graveyard” in the hills of North Dakota in the US.

The fossil site – which he has named Tanis after the Egyptian city excavated in the Indiana Jones film Raiders Of The Lost Ark – may be 2,000 miles from where the meteorite hit in the Chicxulub Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.

But Robert, who seems to style himself like Indiana Jones, believes the creatures were swept to their deaths in a tsunami, then entombed in sediment, which explains why they are so well preserved.

From the embryo of a flying pterosaur in its egg, to a dinosaur fossil that may have been killed on the day the extinction asteroid hit, we reveal the amazing finds the team unearthed.

READ MORE ON DINOSAURS

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest

PC REX

Sir David Attenborough’s BBC1 dinosaur show presents softer ‘woke’ version of T-Rex

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest

DINO-POCALYPSE

Dinosaur ‘that died the DAY asteroid struck’ found in world-first discovery

DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Beautifully preserved footprints left by the prehistoric creatures are now being unearthed by Robert[/caption]

IT’S not just the discovery of fossilised animal remains that is adding to our knowledge of the period just before the dinosaurs died out.

Beautifully preserved footprints left by the prehistoric creatures are now being unearthed by Robert, and are also providing clues.

His team have discovered a number of footprints including one 30cm-long specimen that is believed to have belonged to a duck-billed dinosaur.

Robert says: “They would have been very common in the Cretaceous period. They ate the plants in the area and they got very large – 30ft long.”

Most read in The Sun

CASH BACK


Martin Lewis issues urgent warning to households over £150 council tax refund


'cheating'


BGT in 'fix' row as The Greatest Showman singer takes to the stage


DON'T RAIN ON ER PARADE


Harry & Meghan could 'hijack' Queen's Platinum Jubilee, royals fear


DAD'S SONG


BGT’s Amanda Holden & Declan Donnelly in tears at dad’s emotional performance


BUS FAIR


I bought scrapyard bus and made it a flash home so I never have to pay rent again

GREAT BARD


Rooney wants ex-Man Utd pal Bardsley at Derby next season if club beat drop


One track is particularly well preserved.

Robert says: “You even see a nail print at the tips of the toes, so the little toenails dug into the mud.

“I love this one.”

Robert’s prized footprint features three toes and is longer than it is wide, so it is likely to belong to a carnivorous dinosaur.

Sir David said: “Hell Creek is well known for one carnivore in particular – T-Rex. This footprint is too small for an adult T-Rex but it’s possible it was made by a young one.”

T-REX TOOTH

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Sir David Attenborough holds the tooth of an adult T-Rex[/caption]

ANOTHER exciting discovery made by Robert at Tanis is the crown of a tooth.

Sir David explains: “Its shape and serrated edge are indications it comes from an adult T-Rex.”

It was found lodged in the spine of a hadrosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur, proving that it hunted live prey.

Sir David added: “Bite marks found on T-Rex bones show that they also ate other T-Rexes.”

FOSSILISED TURTLE IMPALED BY A STAKE

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Robert’s team used liquid nitrogen to help free the fossil of a turtle[/caption]

ROBERT and his team used ultra-cold liquid nitrogen to help free the complete fossil of a turtle.

It’s a heart-stopping moment but the team manages to get the specimen out in one piece.

Evidence points to the turtle having been impaled by a wooden stake – possibly a tree branch – as the impact of the asteroid caused a tsunami of destruction that swept across the planet.

LEG OF THESCELOSAURUS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED BY ASTEROID

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Robert’s team found the leg of a thescelosaurus, complete with surviving scaly skin[/caption]

ROBERT and his team face a race against the clock to excavate a mass dinosaur graveyard.

A heavy storm is heading their way and if they do not move fast, precious evidence could be washed away – and lost for ever.

After hours of painstaking work, they are stunned to discover what is thought to be a one-of-a-kind specimen – the fossilised leg of a dinosaur that may have been killed on that fateful day the asteroid hit.

The leg, complete with surviving scaly skin, is later analysed by Professor Paul Barrett, head of Fossil Vertebrates at London’s Natural History Museum, who reveals it belonged to a plant-eating thescelosaurus.

He said: “This looks like an animal whose leg has simply been ripped off really quickly. There’s no evidence on the leg of disease, there are no obvious pathologies, there’s no trace of the leg being scavenged, such as bite marks or bits missing.

“It could well be that this was an animal that was there, being tumbled around, in its death throes in that river as a result of the asteroid impact.”

SKIN FROM A TRICERATOPS

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Sir David looks at the skin of a triceratops[/caption]

TRICERATOPS bones are a relatively common discovery at the site in Hell Creek but recovering fossilised skin in good condition – as the team find on one specimen they unearth – is very rare.

Sir David says: “The size and the patterning of the scales, together with the age and the location of the rocks where it was found, strongly suggests this was from a triceratops.

“The brown colour contains traces of organic material, so it might even be possible from this to work out which pigments were in it.

“Finding and studying such well-preserved fossils helps palaeontologists build a much more detailed picture of how these creatures lived.”

FOSSILISED EGG

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Pterosaurs’s eggs were soft like a turtle’s, and not hard like most dino eggs[/caption]

PTEROSAURS were winged creatures that lived among dinosaurs – though they are not classed as dinosaurs themselves – becoming extinct around the same time.

Sir David says: “Male pterosaurs usually had crests, while the females didn’t, so crests may have been used in courtship displays.”

And we now have an indication where female pterosaurs laid their eggs, because evidence suggests one laid hers in the soft, sandy river bank at Tanis.

Paleobiologist Dr Victoria Egerton, a researcher and professor at Manchester University, discovers the shell is soft, like a turtle’s, and not hard like most dino eggs.

Very little is known about this type of pterosaur, the azhdarchid, and Dr Egerton says of the new discovery: “They were much more reptilian than bird-like and this can potentially tell us more about the environment these eggs were laid in.”

Sir David adds that the sandy soil at Tanis would have been just soft enough for hatchlings to dig themselves out.

Robert adds: “This probably had a wingspan of maybe 15ft. It’s easy to picture something like that hatching and later fluttering out, almost like a little bat.”

‘BULLET’ THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Tiny spherule particles in some fish gills contained iron, chromium and nickel[/caption]

SPECIALIST scans back in the UK reveal something remarkable about one of the tiny spherule particles found in some fish gills. It contains iron, chromium and nickel.

Robert says: “The abundance of the three all together matches what you’d expect to see in a meteoritic body. That doesn’t match what you’d usually have down here.

“This could be a piece of the Chicxulub asteroid.”

Professor Phil Manning, chair of Natural History at Manchester University, adds: “This could be a piece of the bullet that killed the dinosaurs.”

FISH THAT ABSORBED IMPACT DEBRIS FROM ASTEROID AND AMBER RESIN

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest
BBC

Robert’s team found hundreds of fossilised fish whose gills contain tiny clay balls that suggest they died soon after the asteroid hit[/caption]

AMONG the thick layer of rock at Tanis, Robert and his team find hundreds of fossilised fish whose gills contain tiny clay balls that suggest they died soon after the asteroid hit.

Known as ejecta spherules, they formed from rocks that were flung into the air by the impact of the asteroid before raining down and becoming trapped inside the fish gills.

Over millions of years, these tiny beads of molten glass have turned into clay, and Robert says: “They give us a fingerprint of where they came from.”

But to find evidence of what happened that day, he needs to find one that hasn’t turned to clay – so the team search for a spherule encased in fossilised amber.

Sir David says: “Anything covered by the resin would be frozen in an amber time capsule. A spherule preserved in amber could be analysed to see if it comes from the Chicxulub impact.”

Read More on The Sun

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest

WEDDING BELLS?

Daisy May Cooper ‘shops for engagement ring’ – 9 months after marriage split

Inside the final days of the dinosaurs before they were wiped out by a Jurassic ‘bullet’ the size of Mount Everest

VLA-SICK

West Ham ace in tears as Westwood is stretchered off after horror injury

They find two preserved spherules, and analysis by Manchester University’s Professor Manning finds powerful evidence Tanis and Chicxulub are linked.

Robert says: “Once you have that link and you know what impact affected Tanis, then you essentially know that everything buried in those sediments are linked to the last day of the Cretaceous.”

  •  Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough airs tonight on BBC1 at 6.30pm.

REAL-LIFE INDY DIGS UP ‘NEW’ DINOSAUR

IN his battered brown fedora and khaki shirt with a sheathed dagger hanging from his belt, dinosaur hunter Robert DePalma is every inch the modern-day Indiana Jones.

The 40-year-old paleontologist has spent much of his adult life digging for answers on the apocalypse that wiped out the prehistoric creatures 66million years ago.

Born in Florida, DePalma inherited a ­fascination with bones and teeth from his orthodontist dad and great-uncle Anthony, an orthopaedic surgeon and the father of renowned film director Brian DePalma.

As a three-year-old, Robert would examine bones left after family meals. When he was given a fragment of dinosaur bone at the age of four, he showed it to Anthony.

“He taught me all those little knobs and rough patches on a bone had names,” DePalma told the New Yorker. “I was captivated.”

A PhD student at the University of Manchester, he began excavating the North Dakota site Hell Creek in 2012.

Among his incredible finds there are a new species of dinosaur – the dakotaraptor – and the bones of dinosaurs that perished when a giant ­asteroid slammed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula.

He shuns modern tools, preferring to dig with a World War Two bayonet given to him by his uncle, and dental tools donated by his dad.

After his latest finds at Hell Creek, and his collaboration with David Attenborough, the maverick dinosaur hunter could soon be the subject of his own Hollywood movie.

Time to give cousin Brian a call?



Source link

Related Posts

Longest partial lunar eclipse in 600 years to grace skies TONIGHT – how to watch it

Longest partial lunar eclipse in 600 years to grace skies TONIGHT – how to watch it

by Chandler
April 13, 2022
0

THE LONGEST partial lunar eclipse of the century is happening later this week. Nasa has said the celestial show will happen in the early hours of the morning of November 19....

Mushrooms ‘talk to each other and have a vocabulary of 50 words’

Mushrooms ‘talk to each other and have a vocabulary of 50 words’

by Chandler
April 9, 2022
0

MUSHROOMS can talk to each other and have a vocabulary of up to 50 words, fungi boffins say. And they are thought most likely to be chatting about the weather and...

Lives ‘at risk’ over delay in building £1.2BILLION weather supercomputer

Lives ‘at risk’ over delay in building £1.2BILLION weather supercomputer

by Chandler
April 5, 2022
0

LIVES are at risk due to delays in building the world’s “most advanced” weather supercomputer, a court has heard. Met Office boffins had hoped the new £1.2billion forecasting system would be...

T-Rex developed tiny arms to stop them getting bitten off by rivals

T-Rex developed tiny arms to stop them getting bitten off by rivals

by Chandler
April 1, 2022
0

T.REX developed tiny arms to stop them getting bitten off by rivals during pack feeding frenzies, an expert says. The fearsome beast’s ancestors had much longer forelimbs but they shrank over...

Dolphins ‘use wingmen to find partners’ with the most popular getting the most sex

Dolphins ‘use wingmen to find partners’ with the most popular getting the most sex

by Chandler
March 28, 2022
0

DOLPHINS use wingmen to find partners, researchers found. Those with more pals have most sex. Then they return the favour to help the others to pull too. AlamyDolphins use wingmen to...

Dad finds 2lb 40z meteorite worth ‘£100,000’ in a farmer’s field

Dad finds 2lb 40z meteorite worth ‘£100,000’ in a farmer’s field

by Chandler
March 16, 2022
0

A DAD has found a 2lb 4oz meteorite worth up to £100,000 in a farmer’s field after searching for it for 18 months. Tony Whilding, 38, of Wrexham, North Wales, began...

Next Post
How to see the Thanksgiving alignment of Venus, Jupiter and Saturn

How to see the Thanksgiving alignment of Venus, Jupiter and Saturn

Popular News

American President Biden has once again been beaten

American President Biden has once again been beaten

2 days ago
Bored with education, students sell their school: The deal was to be done for 34 lakhs

Bored with education, students sell their school: The deal was to be done for 34 lakhs

2 days ago
TVS Racing launches its Experience Center at Delhi NCR;

TVS Racing launches its Experience Center at Delhi NCR;

2 days ago
People in Canada once again protest against the Kovid sanctions

Sachin Tendulkar buys first Lamborghini SUV

2 days ago
Edward Enninful vacates British Vogue editor’s chair to be ‘editorial advisor’

Edward Enninful vacates British Vogue editor’s chair to be ‘editorial advisor’

3 days ago
When is the Rugby World Cup 2023? TV channel, stream FREE, tickets and pools for huge tournament

When is the Rugby World Cup 2023? TV channel, stream FREE, tickets and pools for huge tournament

3 days ago
Teen killer suing Home Office for damages claims ankle tag stops him from socialising with pals

Teen killer suing Home Office for damages claims ankle tag stops him from socialising with pals

3 days ago
My ‘lazy girl’ meal is nutritious and tastes amazing – you only need 5 ingredients, it’s the easiest and I’m obsessed

My ‘lazy girl’ meal is nutritious and tastes amazing – you only need 5 ingredients, it’s the easiest and I’m obsessed

3 days ago
Birmingham Times

All Rights Reserved © Birmingham Times - The Voice of UK

Important Links

  • Publish Your article
  • Editorial Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Advertise

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Politics
  • UK News
  • Business
  • Science
  • National
  • Entertainment
  • Gaming
  • Sports
  • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Health
  • Food

All Rights Reserved © Birmingham Times - The Voice of UK

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In