Fewer Females Wiped Out Dinosaurs

[ARMS 0]

click here to read about it

[Jeanway 0]

Geeze, that doesn't make sense. If there were more males, they'd have to have been female before they were male, which means what, exactly? That just doesn't make sense. Sure wish nik was around. :lol:

[Esther 0]

What do you mean, the males would have to have been females first?

 

Crocodilians have more males when the eggs are kept at the top of the range, more females occur when the temperature is at the bottom of the range. It sounds as though they are suggesting that the dinosaurs had a reverse of the phenomenon.

[ARMS 0]

Geeze, that doesn't make sense. If there were more males, they'd have to have been female before they were male, which means what, exactly?  That just doesn't make sense. Sure wish nik was around. :lol:

If more males are being born, then when the old generation dies of old age, the new generation would have less females to have young, therefore the population would fall to zero eventually.

[edmcgon 0]

I have a problem with the examples they used for this phenomenon, plus their explanation:

 

In mammals, if a newborn has an X and a Y chromosome, it will be male; and if it gets two X chromosomes, it will be female, with a few, very rare exceptions. Similar mechanisms work for birds, snakes and some reptiles such as lizards.

 

But in crocodilians, turtles and some fish, the temperature at which eggs are incubated can affect the sex of the developing foetus.

 

David Miller, of the University of Leeds, and colleagues ran an analysis that showed a temperature shift could theoretically have led to a preponderance of males among the dinosaurs.

 

Other studies have shown that when there are too few females, eventually the population will die out.

 

"The Earth did not become so toxic that life died out 65 million years ago; the temperature just changed, and these great beasts had not evolved a genetic mechanism (like our Y chromosome) to cope with that," said Dr Sherman Silber, an infertility expert in St Louis, who worked on the study.

 

But crocodiles and turtles had already evolved at the time of the great extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period. So, how did they survive?

 

"These animals live at the intersection of aquatic and terrestrial environments, in estuarine waters and river beds, which might have afforded some protection against the more extreme effects of environmental change, hence giving them more time to adapt," the researchers say.

 

But other scientists are not convinced by the sex idea.

 

"More than 50% of all species that lived prior to the mass extinction were wiped out. In fact, the dinosaurs were not among the most numerous of the casualties - the worst hit organisms were those in the oceans," said Benny Pieser, of Liverpool John Moores University.

 

"I am afraid sex-selection mechanisms are an unlikely cause for the termination of the age of dinosaurs - despite the sexed-up headlines."

 

In other words, the animals most likely to have been effected could have survived it. Birds, which are theorized to have been descended from dinosaurs, are not effected by this.

[ARMS 0]

I understand it but agreed it is a bit sketchy.

 

"the worst hit organisms were those in the oceans," said Benny Pieser, of Liverpool John Moores University."

 

I work for that university :lol:

[Jeanway 0]

I already made a comment on this but I think I need to also state that my comment had to do with genetics. I am a Creationist, which means I believe that species didn't evolve, they just were what they were by design. They were put here as is. There is no missing link because there is no link to begin with. God put them here the way they were supposed to be. similarities in Species are attributed to the fact that they were all designed and made by the same artist. I'll believe this til the day I die. Transendentalists are Creationist, I am both. If you have a problem with my belief, I'm sorry. But that's your problem, not mine. OH , thanks Ed :lol:

[Theunicornhunter 2]

An interesting theory. Although while the dust was blocking the sun and creating cooler temperatures it was probably also hindering photosynthesis and plant growth which would cause starvation in herbivores. A decline in herbivores would then result in starvation in carnivores. Another possible cause of dinosaur extinction.

 

But pardon me for getting off topic but I was watching a program the other night about declining rates of human females because of selective abortion. (Ironic isn't it that many present abortion as a women's rights issue yet it is responsible for declining numbers of women.) Anyway, in some countries (and it happens in the US as well) people will use abortion to select the sex of their child. They want sons. In some places this has gone on for so long that men are having a hard time finding wives. So is humanity going to go the way of the dinosaur?

[Jeanway 0]

An interesting theory.  Although while the dust was blocking the sun and creating cooler temperatures it was probably also hindering photosynthesis and plant growth which would cause starvation in herbivores.  A decline in herbivores would then result in starvation in carnivores.  Another possible cause of dinosaur extinction.

 

But pardon me for getting off topic but I was watching a program the other night about declining rates of human females because of selective abortion.  (Ironic isn't it that many present abortion as a women's rights issue yet it is responsible for declining numbers of women.)  Anyway, in some countries (and it happens in the US as well) people will use abortion to select the sex of their child.  They want sons.  In some places this has gone on for so long that men are having a hard time finding wives.  So is humanity going to go the way of the dinosaur?

 

 

 

 

Good, then maybe if there are fewer women their value will increase in men's eyes and they will treat women better.

[ARMS 0]

You women basically rule the world anyway!