Dinosaurs were lucky to rule the world
Dinosaurs ruled the world, not because they were superior to other animals but because they 'got lucky' say scientists.
The experts now argue that Tyrannosaurus Rex and co lucked their to dominating the planet for over 100 million years, and that other creatures were better placed to succeed.
However, had they come in contact with a T-Rex they probably wouldn't still be saying other animals were bigger and cleverer, well not to his face anyway.
Steve Brusatte and Professor Mike Benton of the University of Bristol studied the evolution of dinosaurs and their closest competitors, crurotarsan archosaurs, which were relatives to crocodiles.
They say the crurotarsan archosaurs were better placed to succeed and probably would have done if it were not for a massive storm in the Triassic period which wiped them out.
Steve Brusatte, said: "If we were standing in the Late Triassic, 210 million years ago or so, and had to bet on which group would eventually dominate ecosystems, all reasonable gamblers would go with the crurotarsans.
"There was no sign that dinosaurs were eventually going to succeed so why did they?
"Why did crurotarsans go extinct and not dinosaurs? We don't know the answer to that, but we suspect that it was nothing more than luck, plain and simple."
