K-T extinction thought experinment

[aquitaine]

If the asteroid didn't hit, then of the multitude of animal orders that went extinct (ammonites, most marine reptiles like mosasaurs, dinosaurs, etc) would any have survived to this day?

 

[ndnkyd]

It's all speculative, really.

Intuition would say that they would still be alive today, but how do you do about proving that?

 

[sylas]

It's all speculative, really.

Intuition would say that they would still be alive today, but how do you do about proving that?

I heard some dinosaurs singing outside my window this morning...

 

[aquitaine]

Well, look at it this way, were any of them on the way out before the asteroid hit?

It's all speculative, really.

Exactly, it's a thought experinment.

 

[Evo]

If the asteroid didn't hit, then of the multitude of animal orders that went extinct (ammonites, most marine reptiles like mosasaurs, dinosaurs, etc) would any have survived to this day?

Probably, and we wouldn't be here.

 

[Studiot]

Yes its speculative, but didn't the Deccan vulcanicity and the collision of India and Asia occur around this time?
So something nasty might have happened anyway, these events have also been blamed for the KT extinctions.

 

[midgetshorts]

Sorry... it's experiment, not experiNment. There's a good book that deals with some ideas like that but it's specifically what sorts of creatures would evolve on other planets and why. It's called Darwin's Universe. Pretty fun read.