Millions of years ago, a series of asteroids with the force of ten billion atomic bombs struck Earth, altering the trajectory of evolution. Plants ceased photosynthesizing when the skies darkened. The vegetation died first, followed by the creatures who ate them. The food chain broke down. Over 90% of all species have disappeared. Except for a few birds, all dinosaurs were extinct as the dust fell.

Moreover, this calamitous catastrophe paved the way for human progress. The surviving animals thrived, including the small proto-primates who would eventually become humans. Assume the meteor missed and the dinosaurs survived. Consider highly developed raptors establishing presence on the Moon. Dinosaur scientists invent relativity or debate a fictitious universe in which animals seized over the Earth.

On seven continents, there have been 8 billion Homo sapiens. Humans outnumber all wild creatures in terms of weight.

Dinosauroid: Living With Evolved Dinosaurs

Dale Russell, a paleontologist, developed a series of experiments in the 1980s in which a predatory dinosaur developed into an intellectual tool user. This "dinosauroid" had a large brain, opposable thumbs, and walked upright, as discussed in the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

An animal's biology determines the course of its evolution. Consider dinosaurs' size. Sauropod dinosaurs, such as Brontosaurus, grew into 30-50 tonne monsters up to 30 meters in length originating in the Jurassic, 10 times the mass of an elephant, and even as elongated as a blue whale.

This occurred in several families, particularly Diplodocidae, Brachiosauridae, Turiasauridae, Mamenchisauridae, and Titanosauria. It occurred on several continents, at various eras, and in various conditions ranging from dunes to rainforests, and yet some dinosaurs that lived in these habitats did not become supergiants.

The fact that these animals were sauropods was what tied them together. Something in sauropod anatomy - lungs, hollowed bones with a structural applications ratio, energy, or all of these things - enabled them to evolve. It allowed them to develop in ways that no other terrestrial animal has before or since.

Similarly, carnivorous dinosaurs continually created massive, ten-meter-tall, multi-tonne predators. Megalosaurids, neovenatorids, carcharodontosaurids, allosaurids, then lastly tyrannosaurs developed huge apex predators over 100 million years.

Dinosaurid model.
(Photo : Dale Russell & Ron Séguin/Canadian Museum of Nature via Naish & Tattersdill, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2021)
Dinosaurid model. Dinosaur scientists, discovering relativity, or discussing a hypothetical world in which, incredibly, mammals took over the Earth.

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Dinos' Possible Dominance

Dinosaurs were good at having large bodies and big minds. These giant reptiles also did demonstrate a little growth in brain size over time. Small brains were found in Jurassic dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus.

Tyrannosaurs and duckbills had grown bigger brains even by the late Cretaceous, 80 million years down the line. Nonetheless, despite its enormous size, the T. The rex brain was estimated to be just 400 grams. The Velociraptor's brain was considered 15 grams. A typical human mind weighs 1.3 kilos.

Dinosaurs did, throughout time, enter new niches. As stated in The Conversation report, the small herbivores grew more numerous, and birds became more diverse. Long-legged creatures emerged later, implying an armed conflict between fast-moving predators with their prey. Dinosaurs appeared to have had a more complicated social life. They began to live in herds and developed intricate antlers for fighting and show. Nonetheless, dinosaurs appeared to be repeating history, developing enormous herbivores plus carnivores with little brains.

There's nothing in over 100 million years of dinosaur existence that suggests they'd have accomplished anything drastically different if the impact hadn't intervened. Presently, the world almost certainly still has supergiant, long-necked herbivores, and massive tyrannosaur-like carnivores. They may have had somewhat larger brains, but there is no indication that they would have developed into geniuses. Mammals are also unlikely to have supplanted them. Dinosaurs dominated their surroundings until the asteroid struck.

Human as Mammal and the Evolution

Mammals, on the other hand, faced unique challenges. They did not develop supergiant vegetarians and carnivores. Nevertheless, they have repeatedly grown large brains. Orcas, cetaceans, baleen whales, elephants, leopard seals, and apes all evolved massive brains (as larger than humans)

Only a few dinosaur relatives, such as crows and parrots, have sophisticated brains today. They could use tools, communicate, and count. Furthermore, animals, such as apes, elephants, and even dolphins, have evolved the most sophisticated brains and behaviors, as reported by Science Alert.

The evolutionary past of primates indicates that human evolution was far from inevitable. Primate evolution in Africa created big-brained apes and modern humans over 7 million years. Moreover, primate evolution took completely different pathways elsewhere.

Monkeys just developed into additional monkey species when they arrived in South America 35 million years ago. And primates arrived in North America at three different times: 55 million, and 50 million, but also 20 million years ago. They did not, however, develop into a species capable of producing nuclear bombs and smartphones. Instead, they went extinct for causes humans don't understand.

Primate evolution adopted a distinctive turn in Africa, and alone in Africa. Something in Africa's fauna, flora, or topography influenced the development of apes: terrestrial, large-bodied, large-brained, tool-using primates. With or without the dinosaurs, human evolution required the perfect balance of chances and luck.

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