These ecosystems drastically changed once the space rock hit. This ancient ecosystem and others worldwide included far more than apex predators, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, and their prey, of course they also hosted a wealth of creatures, including lice and other parasites. In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, science writer Riley Black chronicles both the pre-apocalyptic idyll and the worldwide devastation that resulted from what some scientists have dubbed “Earth’s worst day.” The book is a compelling amalgamation of both new and old scientific information (and some science-based speculation).īlack begins her tale by exploring what happened in the Hell Creek area of today’s Montana, whose rocks offer what is perhaps the best record of a dinosaur habitat. In the wake of the event, as many as 75 percent of all species were wiped out. Heat generated by ejecta falling back to Earth ignited wildfires worldwide that blazed for months, if not years. Some of the sulfur-rich debris poisoned the sky, unleashing downpours of acid rain. The impact blasted out an enormous crater and heaved large amounts of material into the atmosphere. Some 66 million years ago, give or take several millennia, a 10-kilometer-wide asteroid slammed into our planet.
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