Explores the captivating history of dinosaurs, their reign, extinction, and presents a new theory on how certain species survived their cataclysmic end.

The dinosaurs are a source of endless fascination, and each new generation is inspired and enchanted by images of these wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures that dominated the Earth eons of time ago. The smallest was the size of a chicken; the largest on record, the titanosaur Argentinosaurus huinculensis, weighed about 95 tons—fifteen times as much as an African bull elephant (today’s largest terrestrial creature).

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for no less than 181 million years: about 600 times longer than Homo sapiens have existed on the planet (Homo sapiens is defined as the primate species to which modern humans belong: the first modern humans having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago).

Today, the consensus is that the dinosaurs became extinct when a meteorite impacted with the Earth 66 million years ago, covering it with a thick layer of soot and throwing up enormous quantities of dust which caused the sky to darken, and photosynthesis on which all terrestrial animals ultimately depend for their survival to cease.

The unanswered question, however, is how did mammals, reptiles, and birds (which are the only species of dinosaur to survive) escape this holocaust?

An entirely new theory is put forward for the first time to explain this mysterious and intriguing phenomenon.

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. The Coastal Town of Swanage, Dorset
• 2. Swanage: Ammonites and Evidence of Other Ancient Forms of Life
• 3. The Jurassic Coast
• 4. Purbeck: Strata in Which Dinosaur Fossils are Most Likely to be Found?
• 5. What is a Dinosaur?
• 6. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Lost World
• 7. Mary Anning: Fossil Hunter Extraordinaire!
• 8. Dinosaur Prints: How to Identify Them
• 9. Dinosaur Prints: some Local Discoveries
• 10. Some Dinosaur Fossils from Purbeck and Further Afield
• 11. How is the Age of the Fossilised Bone of a Dinosaur Ascertained?
• 12. How Life Began, How Living Creatures Evolved, and the Dinosaurs in Particular
• 13. The Kt Boundary and the Kt Extinction Event
• 14. The Presence of High Concentrations of Iridium at the Kt Boundary, and Its Significance
• 15. Chicxulub: a Possible Location for the Alleged Asteroid Impact
• 16. Was There More than One Asteroid Impact?
• 17. Oil: Another Potentially Lethal Ingredient
• 18. The Volcanoes of India’S Deccan Region
• 19. The Chicxulub Impact: Both a Local and a Global Catastrophe
• 20. Some Terrestrial, Semi-Aquatic and Marine Creatures That Survived the Kt Extinction Event
• 21. Were Dinosaurs Warm-Blooded?
• 22. The Ability to Hibernate or Brumate: the Critical Factor
• 23. Hibernation/Brumation/Torpor: some of the Complexities Involved
• 24. The Genetics of Hibernation
• 25. For the Mammals Shall Inherit the Earth!
• 26. A New Dinosaur is Discovered
• 27. Birds: the Dinosaurs That Did Not Die
• 28. How Did Birds Survive the Kt Extinction Event?
• 29. The Enduring Attraction of Dinosaurs
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Dinosaur Data
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plates