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The Meek Shall Inherit The EarthSeptember 27th, 2005 by Mike Keesey :: see related comic |
When I first wrote this, Carnotaurus sastrei and Giganotosaurus carolinii were supposed to be roughly contemporaneous. But (see “Anachronism Schmanachronism“), Carnotaurus sastrei turns out to be later, toward the end of the Cretaceous Period. (Well, at least they’re still both South American; Patagonian, even. And there’ll be plenty of anachronisms over the course of this strip, anyway … you’ll see….)
G. carolinii still would have lived alongside other abelisaurids. But, by C. sastrei’s time, carnosaurs like G. carolinii appear to have died out. Over the course of the Cretaceous in South America, the gigantic forms like Argentinosaurus huinculensis and Carcharodontosauridae gave way to their smaller competitors, groups like Abelisauridae and non-diplodocid Diplodocoidea.
Similar things were happening in the rest of the world as well. What was the cause? One possible factor was the rise of Angiospermae. As flowering plants took over from ferns (Pteridophyta) and conifers (Pinophyta), feeding styles changed. Gigantic herbivores no longer enjoyed the same benefits, and, once they died out, gigantic carnivores would follow.
References:
- Bakker, R. T. 1986. When dinosaurs invented flowers. pp. 179–198 in Bakker, R. T. The Dinosaur Heresies. Kensington Publishing Corp.
- Lamanna, M. C., R. D. Martínez, M. Luna, G. Casal, P. Dodson, and J. B. Smith. 2001. Sauropod faunal transition through the Cretaceous Chubut Group of central Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21(3):70A.
- Lamanna, M. C., R. D. MartÃnez, and J. B. Smith. 2002. A definitive abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of Patagonia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22(1):58-69.
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