Killing the Dinosaurs

What killed off the dinosaurs? Asteroid impact has been the leading candidate in most scientific circles -- with Fred, Barney and the great flood in others -- but now a new argument has been put forth in the book What Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease and Death in the Cretaceous by George and Roberta Poinar. In the book, the Poinars suggest that the extinction of dinosaurs, which may have occurred from hundreds of thousands to millions of years, could have been caused by the appearance of insects and the diseases they carry. The authors don't discount the effects of geologic and catastrophic events, but contend that those events by themselves couldn't have led to the slow death of the dinosaurs. The Poinars have accumulated a lot of evidence for diseases to back up their claims, via insects preserved in amber and dinosaur feces. They also suggest that insects played a further role of changing the vegetation of the planet, favouring more flowering plants. The combination of diseases and a dwindling food supply could have put the final nail in the dinosaur coffin.