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Animation of some dinosaurs dying.

Image that says Disease.
Image that says: Were dinosaurs killed by disease?  It's hard to find the expertise to guarantee they were infected-- No dinosaur can be dissected.  Did ticks which carried parasites impair the dinos with their bites?  Or did amoebeas get inside the dinosaur's resistant hide?

Dinosaurs and Disease
Image of a dinosaur standing on a beach."Hi, there! I'm just relaxing here on the shore of this beautiful sea. Its shallow waters are filled with life: fish, ammonites, plankton, mosasaurs, pesiosaurs, and ichthyosaurs. Huge pteranodons glide lazily overhead. I can see, a broad plain covered by trees, flowers, and grass extending to the distant, volcano-studded mountains visible in the west. Herds of Triceratops graze among the plants, and groups of duckbill Trachodons wade in the lazy rivers flowing across the plain. In about 65 million years, this land will be a dry, windy plain you humans will call eastern Montana. But right now it's a dino paradise!"
Image adapted from © 1999 -www.arttoday.com

"Sigh! Seems like this is the last dinosaur paradise left on Earth. My buddies and I were lucky to find it. We used to live on a wet, coastal plain over in a land you call Asia, but it dried out and we had to leave. We wandered for years, but all the other dino hangouts we found were drying up too. We found small groups of dinosaurs here and there, but never very many. We even crossed a dried-up ocean bottom. Ugh! Bones and shells of dead sea creatures were everywhere. Then we found this place and moved right in!"

"But things are slowly drying up around here, too, and food is getting scarce. My buddies and I are much better at finding food than the local dinosaurs. That's great for us! But not so good for the locals. They always seem to be hungry - and sick. There are not as many of them as there used to be. "

"Recently, a lot of my buddies have been getting sick, too. Some new bug seems to be going around! I hope I don't get it! I can't worry about it too much or I will turn into a hypochondriacasaurus!"

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Image of a star. Dinosaurs and Disease
Disease and More
Did Dinosaurs Ever Get Sick?
Looking at Life Today
Changing Landscapes
Going Going Gone

 

 
             
     
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Dinosaurs and Disease | Disease and More | Did Dinosaurs Ever Get Sick? | Looking at Life Today | Changing Landscapes | Going Going Gone

Giant Impact | Super Nova | Disease | Volcanoes | Orbital Changes | Meet the Dinosaurs | Into the Future

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April 28, 2005

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