I cannot help but to find history and science extremely engrossing, especially
evolutionary science, and working at a
Dinosaur Museum has given rise to many interesting thoughts.
I came up with a theory that helped explain the explosion of flowering plants, and the reason birds are so widespread now, only to find out it has already (slightly different) been thought of (always happens, Dammit).
Here goes:
First of all you must know that dinosaurs did not become extinct, a large family of dinosaurs became extinct, the rest evolved. Secondly, that they are neither cold-blooded nor reptilian, they were AVIAN and thus not cold or warm-blooded(not in the mammalian sense). Thirdly, that the mass extinction(of all life, not just dino's) WAS CAUSED BY A BIG F-ING ROCK SLAMMING AT GREAT SPEED INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO. Any stubborn fools that want to use the "slow climate change" theory(or anything else they think is wrong with this node), can bring it, as I will rip their asses down! the climate changes are a *RESULT* of a BIG F-ING ROCK SLAMMING AT GREAT SPEED INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO!!
Sorry if I got a bit worked up there, but I still have stubborn fools trying tell me bullshit with relatively no valid evidence.
You must understand that before the big rock hit, the seasons on the planet were nowhere near as severe as they are now, and that there were also NO flowering or seasonal plants(not even grasses) until very late in the Cretaceous Period. When the big rock hit, it altered the weather patterns of the planet, making the seasons many times more severe, which suited the newly seasonal plants just fine, allowing them to flourish. Flowering plants mean FRUIT in TREES, and the few animals living in trees were the MICRORAPTORS.
Microraptor: family of small(up to approx. 50cm high) dino's that were covered in feathers, possessed primary feathers(meaning they FLIED), and lived in trees. Nature always adapts to exploit new, or untapped resources, and with all this new, nutritious fruit just sitting there, cm's away from a very numerous family of animals, its almost certain that some would have developed to eat the fruit and flowers. This adaptation will later become the small birds that eat fruit and nectar(parrots, budgies, etc.) whilst the Microraptors that chose to remain eating meat became predatory birds (hawks, eagles, etc.) and the LARGE raptors/other theropods became the BIG carnivorous birds(terror birds, Moas, Cassowaries, Emus, Ostriches, etc)
any debates/questions are welcomed.