History Main / TheDinosaursHadItComing

No, some writers prefer the theory that the dinosaurs were responsible for their own extinction. They were [[DumbDinos too stupid to take sensible precautions for their future survival]], or were intelligent enough to develop the means of their own destruction. Either way, this provides a lesson for the human race and other sapient species if they want to avoid the same fate, though [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology paleontologists might not believe the story]]. See also TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed.

* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' had a tragic take on this. Due to a catastrophic series of events instigated by the [=WESAYSO=] company's new wax fruit factory (draining a swamp that a beetle critical to the environment used as a mating ground, which led to an overgrowth to a weed the beetles fed on, attempts to control the weed end up destroying all vegetation on earth, attempts to get the plants to re-grow by causing rain causes a GlacialApocalypse instead), the dinosaurs freeze or starve due to the actions of corporate shortsightedness and stupidity.

* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' had a tragic take on this. Due to a catastrophic series of events instigated by corporate greed (draining a swamp where a beetle critical to the environment used as a mating ground, which led to an overgrowth to a weed the beetles fed on, attempts to control the weed end up destroying all vegetation on earth, attempts to get the plants to re-grow by causing rain causes a GlacialApocalypse instead), the dinosaurs freeze or starve due to the actions of corporate shortsightedness and stupidity.

** Additionally, mass volcanic events going on at the same time, most notably the Deccan Traps in what is now India, and likely being exacerbated by the asteroid strike contributed to abrupt die-off of plants with a solar black out; leading to an ecosystem collapse.

* Before the asteroid strike catalyst was well supported however, there were some extreme fringe hypotheses that speculated about this. In the late [=1980s=] when it became more widely known dinosaurs were warm blooded and intelligent, authors like Mike Magee and John C. [=McLoughlin=] speculated about similarities in trends between the End-Cretaceous extinction and the modern human-driven Holocene extinction events. In their books, ''Who Lies Sleeping: the Dinosaur Heritage and the Extinction of Man'' and ''Evolutionary Bioparanoia'' respectively, they speculated a currently unfossilized species of sapient dinosaur caused their own ecological collapse by over exploitation of the environment and potentially nuclear war. The notions were not meant to be taken entirely seriously, but to draw parallels with the very real possibility of human's causing their own extinction by similar means.

** Additionally, mass volcanic events going on at the same time and likely being exacerbated by the asteroid strike contributed to abrupt die-off of plants with a solar black out; leading to an ecosystem collapse.
** Even animal groups which did survive like mammals, birds, and most small reptiles; often did so with drastic reductions and sometimes by the skin of their teeth.

* In ''10 Little Dinosaurs'', a ''Pachycephalosaurus'' jumps on a bed, falls off and bumps his head, a ''Stegosaurus'' falls off riding a bike and smashes his spike, a ''T. rex'' munches on a mooth and breaks his tooth, a ''Spinosaurus'' falls into the water while rafting on a river and going all aquiver, an ''Archaeopteryx'' jumps off a peak and tweaks his beak, an ''Ankylosaurus'' plays on the street saying "A car to beat!", a ''Supersaurus'' acts cool while wearing his shades to school and and is scolded by his teacher, a ''Chasmosaurus'' camps out and slides a lava tube, a ''Saurolophus'' watches baseball and then insults the umpire, and finally, a ''Triceratops'' while walking all lone is ultimately dried up into bones.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'' and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' say that Beerus the God of Destruction wiped the dinosaurs out because they were rude to him. However, he's either incompetent or lying, as dinosaurs are still alive in the Dragon Ball universe. All signs point to the first explanation.

** Another strip implies the equally erroneous belief that the dinosaurs were wiped out by an ice age, with several scaly dinosaurs laughing at a [[CartoonCreature nondescript furry creature]] (possibly an ancient mammal relative), with only one of the former group noticing that it's starting to snow.

* ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' jokes that dinosaurs died out via smoking. This becomes HilariousInHindsight when one finds out that the cannabis family (which also includes marijuana) were important ground cover plants in the Mesozoic. Maybe Larson isn't so off the marker after all.

* ''Film/PacificRim'': It's claimed the alien creators of the {{Kaiju}} attacking Earth first attempted to colonize the planet during the time of the dinosaurs, but gave up because the atmosphere wasn't hospitable for them. The exposition leaves it deliberately ambiguous as to whether the Kaiju killed the dinosaurs or ''were'' the dinosaurs, which case of the latter means their extinction impeded the efforts of an alien invasion.

* ''WebAnimation/DinosaursATrueStory'': The dinosaurs have evolved enough to have a nuclear arsenal to destroy the incoming meteor. Unfortunately their President is a ''T. rex'' whose tiny arms can't reach the [[BigRedButton Big Red Handprint Scanner]].

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', lampooning Literature/TheBible, a pig in the Garden of Eden warns Adam (Homer) against eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. One of the dinosaurs ate one and well... that's why there aren't any more of them.
* In the animated short by Paul-Louis Aeberhardt, ''Dinosaurs: The true story", the dinosaurs have evolved enough to have a nuclear arsenal to destroy the incoming meteor. Unfortunately their President is a T-Rex whose tiny arms can't reach the [[BigRedButton Big Red Handprint Scanner]].

** Additionally, mass volcanic events going on at the same time and likely being exacerbated by the asteroid strike contributed to abrupt die-off of plants with a solar black out; leading to an ecosystem collapse

** First, an absolutely catastrophic asteroid strike struck shallow sea [[note]](had it struck deep water, the blast would have been smothered and drastically reduced)[[/note]]
** Sea levels being high for the last few million years of the Cretaceous making migration between continents was reduced, and meaning ocean-caused weather events like rainfall and tides were also disrupted [[note]](meaning land animals couldn't migrate to new regions to try and find a safe haven for their niche)[[/note]]

* This was very much not the case in real life. The main causes for the End-Cretaceous extinction were totally out of the dinosaurs control. The factors were entirely natural, if extremely unlucky.

** Even animal groups which did survive like mammals, birds, and most small reptiles; often did so with drastic reductions and sometimes by the skin of their teeth. The extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs was a fluke of natural events totally out of their control and had any of the factors been different, the Mesozoic era likely never would have ended as they had weathered extinction events before.

* This was very much not the case in real life. The main causes for the End-Cretaceous extinction were an absolutely catastrophic asteroid strike which struck shallow sea [[note]](had it struck deep water, the blast would have been smothered and drastically reduced)[[/note]], sea levels being high for the last few million years of the Cretaceous making migration between continents was reduced [[note]](meaning land animals couldn't migrate to new regions to try and find a safe haven for their niche)[[/note]], and mass volcanic events going on at the same time and likely being exacerbated by the asteroid strike. Even animal groups which did survive like mammals, birds, and most small reptiles; often did so with drastic reductions and sometimes by the skin of their teeth. The extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs was a fluke of natural events totally out of their control and had any of the factors been different, the Mesozoic era likely never would have ended as they had weathered extinction events before.
** Before the asteroid strike catalyst was well supported however, there were some extreme fringe hypotheses that speculated about this. In the late [=1980s=] when it became more widely known dinosaurs were warm blooded and intelligent, authors like Mike Magee and John C. McLoughlin speculated about similarities in trends between the End-Cretaceous extinction and the modern human-driven Holocene extinction events. In their books, ''Who Lies Sleeping: the Dinosaur Heritage and the Extinction of Man'' and ''Evolutionary Bioparanoia'' respectively, they speculated a currently unfossilized species of sapient dinosaur caused their own ecological collapse by over exploitation of the environment and potentially nuclear war. The notions were not meant to be taken entirely seriously, but to draw parallels with the very real possibility of human's causing their own extinction by similar means.

No, some writers prefer the theory that the dinosaurs were responsible for their own extinction. They were too stupid to take sensible precautions for their future survival, or were intelligent enough to develop the means of their own destruction. Either way, this provides a lesson for the human race and other sapient species if they want to avoid the same fate, though [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology paleontologists might not believe the story]]. See also TheCretaceousIsAlwaysDoomed.

** Paraphrased in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-09-08 9/8/18]] (which is amusing trope-wise, because a later strip shows they ''[[https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-07-25 did]]'' see the asteroid coming... far too late):

* ''Film/{{Pumaman}}'':

* Surprisingly PlayedForDrama in the last episode of ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''. The dinosaurs go extinct due to a chain of events that started with Earl's [[CorruptCorporateExecutive boss]] stupidly [[GreenAesop destroying the breeding grounds of a specific species of bug]]. The dinosaurs try to fix the damage to the ecosystem, but wind up [[FromBadToWorse wiping out all plant life, then plunging the planet into an ice age]]. As the ice piles up, [[SuddenDownerEnding Earl has to explain to his shivering family why they are all about to die]].
-->'''Ethyl:'''[[note]]his mother-in-law[[/note]] I always knew you'd screw up... I just didn't know how bad.