• Question: If dinosaurs were still alive today, would we be here?

    Asked by henry to Angela, Gabriele, Karen, Maria, Shane on 14 Nov 2013. This question was also asked by laurenm.
    • Photo: Shane Mc Guinness

      Shane Mc Guinness answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Hi Henry,
      I think it would be very difficult for us to survive with dinosaurs, as we have changed almost every part of this world already. There are so few places left in the world which could support populations of dinosaurs that it might not be possible. We could certainly control them using our technology (guns, fences etc.) but they wouldn’t really be wild dinosaurs.
      But did you know that we’re already still sort of living with dinosaurs?! Crocodiles, alligators and turtles were all around at the same time as the dinosaurs. And did you know that the birds we have today probably evolved from lizards like dinosaurs? So we’re pretty much still surrounded by dinosaurs today! They never really went completely extinct, they just changed a lot!

    • Photo: Karen McCarthy

      Karen McCarthy answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      Now theres a though! The rules of any ecosystem, aka the rules of relationships and interactions between living things and their surroundings, are very complex and delicate – upsetting that balance can have big consequences!

      The dinosaurs had a very special ecosystem, which they evolved to be the best at utilizing, and we’re the same – but even more than any other animal, we have completely changed our ecosystem! Could we co-exist together? Good question! But as Shane rightly pointed, dinosaurs are still amongst, albeit in a different way!

    • Photo: Angela Stevenson

      Angela Stevenson answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      In an earlier question I pointed out the fact that our first human ancestors came a long long time after dinosaurs, which is a good thing otherwise we probably wouldn’t have had a chance to evolve to the species we are now. Dinosaurs are dangerous predators that ruled the land in their time. One thing’s for sure, if dinosaurs had ever managed to make it to our lifetime, we definitely would not be living the same lifestyle as we do now. Excellent question Henry!

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