Book 5, Question 24
The Big Goodbye! Why Did Non-Bird Dinosaurs Disappear?
About 66 million years ago, a huge space rock hit Earth, and big volcanic eruptions were happening around the same time. Earth's climate changed, and the dinosaurs that were not birds died out. Birds survived, so dinosaurs still live on today in a way.
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 5
More fun facts
- About 66 million years ago, a nine-mile-wide asteroid struck Earth and wiped out about three-quarters of life.
- Not all dinosaurs died. Birds are dinosaurs that survived.
- The first birds evolved about 150 million years ago from small, feathery dinosaurs.
- Beaked birds were the only dinosaurs to survive. Their beaks may have let them eat seeds and nuts after the disaster.
- The impact wiped out forests around the world, so tree-dwelling birds died out.
- The survivors lived on the ground, including ancient relatives of ducks, chickens and ostriches.
Sources: National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American
Questions kids ask
Did all the dinosaurs die out?
No. The bird branch of the dinosaur family survived, and its descendants are the birds we see today.