The dinosaurs are a source of endless fascination, and each new generation is inspired and enchanted by images of these wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures that dominated the Earth eons of time ago. The smallest was the size of a chicken; the largest on record, the titanosaur Argentinosaurus huinculensis, weighed about 95 tons-fifteen times as much as an African bull elephant (today's largest terrestrial creature). Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for no less than 181 million years: about 600 times longer than Homo sapiens have existed on the planet (Homo sapiens is defined as the primate species to which modern humans belong: the first modern humans having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago). Today, the consensus is that the dinosaurs became extinct when a meteorite impacted with the Earth 66 million years ago, covering it with a thick layer of soot and throwing up enormous quantities of dust which caused the sky to darken, and photosynthesis on which all terrestrial animals ultimately depend for their survival to cease. The unanswered question, however, is how did mammals, reptiles, and birds (which are the only species of dinosaur to survive) escape this holocaust? An entirely new theory is put forward for the first time to explain this mysterious and intriguing phenomenon. AUTHOR: Andrew Norman was born in Newbury, Berkshire, UK in 1943. Having been educated at Thornhill High School, Gwelo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Midsomer Norton Grammar School, Somerset, UK, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he qualified in medicine at the Radcliffe Infirmary. He has two children Bridget and Thomas, by his first wife. From 1972-83, Andrew worked as a general practitioner in Poole, Dorset, before a spinal injury cut short his medical career. He is now an established writer. Andrew married his second wife, Rachel, in 2005. 32 b/w illustrations
