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00:00 Imagine that you're a dinosaur. You have the teeth, the scales, the unimaginable power, and a serious roar.
00:07 And you're quietly going about another day, around 66 million years ago. Life is probably pretty good.
00:13 You're a giant, roaming the landscape of a lush, green planet. But the world is about to change.
00:19 In the skies, there is a light, an object that hasn't always been there.
00:23 And while Earth had certainly been struck by asteroids in the past, before now,
00:27 this something from space is the first of its type for many millions of years.
00:32 Of course, we know what happens next. The rock hits, the conditions on Earth are cast into untold chaos,
00:39 and the dinosaurs disappear. It's a truly crucial before and after moment.
00:44 A point in time after which the story of life took an all-new direction.
00:48 But what would have happened if it had never happened at all?
00:52 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; what if the asteroid never killed the dinosaurs?
00:59 Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious?
01:03 Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
01:09 There are surely few more momentous moments in the history of the Earth than when a 6.2-mile or 10-kilometre-wide asteroid
01:16 struck our planet around 66 million years ago. Hurtling into the Yucatan Peninsula of modern-day Mexico,
01:22 the cataclysmic impact caused an explosion several billion times as powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb
01:29 to trigger mega-tsunamis, massive volcanic eruptions, and worldwide wildfires.
01:35 A thick blanket of ash, debris, and soot suffocated all types of until-then livable environments,
01:41 blocking out the sun, sending everything into darkness, and causing temperatures to rise and fall to unparalleled extremes.
01:49 It was doomsday for the dinosaurs. Having reigned on Earth for more than 180 million years,
01:55 the dinosaurs were wiped out by one colossal chunk of space rock that just so happened to cross their planet's path.
02:03 But while traditional theories often imply that the death and destruction were almost instantaneous,
02:07 contemporary science has cast more than a few questions over exactly how, when, and why the dinos died.
02:14 Some scientists suggest that dinosaurs were already in decline even before the asteroid event.
02:19 Their evolutionary heyday is usually considered as the Late Triassic Period, around 220 million years ago,
02:26 when new species were appearing and evolving far quicker than others were dying out.
02:31 However, around 120 million years later, so around 40 million years before the asteroid impact,
02:38 dino populations were falling fairly fast, particularly among the meat-eating theropods, including the tyrannosaurs.
02:45 The downturn wasn't a blanket rule for all species, but the dinosaurs' dwindling fortunes may have contributed
02:51 to their eventual inability to survive their own apocalypse.
02:55 On the other side, some theories argue that the dinosaurs would have easily and inevitably regained their upward curve
03:02 had the asteroid never happened, or if it had hit the oceans rather than land.
03:07 Sure, some species figures had been in decline, but the trend wasn't entrenched,
03:11 and extinction would have still seemed almost impossible.
03:14 In fact, some scientists say that some species of dinosaur may still have walked the Earth
03:19 between 30,000 and 300,000 years even after the asteroid hit.
03:24 So, that fateful rock may not have been the absolute final straw, but it almost certainly marked the beginning of the end.
03:31 But what if it never happened at all? What if the asteroid had just missed Earth,
03:35 the ancient ecosystems had continued to flourish, and the dinosaurs had never even encountered their atmospheric Armageddon,
03:42 because it was never inflicted upon them? What might the world be like now?
03:46 In the days, weeks, and months after the asteroid, it was definitely survival of the smallest.
03:51 The largest dinosaurs were worst affected, mostly because the disaster decimated the food chain,
03:57 leaving the bigger beasts with nowhere near enough to eat.
04:00 Edible creatures were understandably hard to come by,
04:03 and plant stocks were severely depleted given the dramatic changes in temperature, weather, and soil.
04:09 All of this was essentially good news for us humans, though.
04:12 Of course, we weren't there at the time, but it meant that a very small number of early mammals,
04:17 which were tiny, shoe-like creatures back then, could survive while the predators perished.
04:22 In a world without the asteroid, this shift isn't likely to have happened,
04:26 so there's no real reason to believe that the rise of the mammals would have ever occurred,
04:31 so you and everyone else would have never existed.
04:34 The asteroid directly or indirectly killed off around three-quarters of the planet's species at the time,
04:39 and while there is evidence that some dino-breeds may have eventually disappeared through natural selection,
04:44 it's probable that the majority would have continued to develop in a world without the rock.
04:49 It's true that many of today's birds are actually distant descendants of various avian creatures from many millions of years ago,
04:56 but the land-dwelling lizards were also far more intelligent and adaptable than modern stereotypes imply.
05:03 And that's partly because some of them were less lizard-like than we often imagine.
05:07 There's evidence that some dinosaurs were at least partly warm-blooded,
05:11 so particular species could have easily applied themselves to any ice age thrown their way,
05:16 and continued to thrive across all regions and environments on Earth.
05:20 Major fossil finds are typically uncovered in dry and dusty desert landscapes,
05:25 but that's mostly because these are areas where bones are best preserved and most easily accessible,
05:30 and not because they're the only locations where dinosaurs lived.
05:34 The 2015 discovery of Oogroonalak-Kookpakenis in Arctic Alaska kick-started a now ever-growing appreciation of just how far dinosaur populations had spread.
05:44 So, had they not been halted by the asteroid, their all-conquering versatility would have likely increased.
05:51 Today, the word "dinosaur" has come to mean anything that's clumsy or outdated,
05:56 but that description was probably far from true for the seemingly unstoppable creatures themselves.
06:01 It's almost impossible to guess how the dinosaurs would have evolved over the 66 million years between when the Cretaceous period was suddenly ended, and now.
06:10 But most theorists agree that there would have been significant changes.
06:14 World-famous forms such as the Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops would no doubt have dramatically altered to suit their developing environments.
06:22 For a measure of what can be achieved within the time frame,
06:25 just consider the mammals' progress from small, shrew-like lifeforms into today's dominant and diverse creatures.
06:32 The improvements are obviously vast, and given that the dinosaurs seem to deal solely in superlatives,
06:38 the fastest, strongest, tallest, and longest species are likely to have become even more incredible in size and shape.
06:46 The development of dinosaur intelligence would have been key, and has been subject for continuous speculation,
06:52 with the Troodon usually taking center stage.
06:55 Troodon boasted a comparatively large brain for its relatively small size,
06:59 and is thought to have been one of the smartest dinosaurs at the point of extinction.
07:03 It walked on its hind legs and had large, forward-facing eyes,
07:07 leading many to muse that the cleverest dinosaurs were headed for a more human-like body shape.
07:12 The so-called "dinosauroid" might have become fully bipedal while retaining scaly skin, sharper teeth, and clearer vision,
07:19 to look something like the stereotypical Area 51 alien.
07:23 However, many paleontologists argue that this vision is only the product of human arrogance,
07:28 as there's little reason to believe that future dinosaurs would have looked anything like us,
07:33 barring an enormous evolutionary coincidence.
07:36 The human design is good, but alternate options are endless,
07:40 and our forms aren't an undisputed end goal for all living things.
07:45 That said, had the dinosaurs been allowed to evolve and improve for millions of years more,
07:50 the emergence of mammals would have been increasingly difficult, if not impossible.
07:54 Dinosaurs so conclusively dominated the food chain that even had their numbers fell,
08:00 the opportunities for a species overhaul would have been basically non-existent.
08:04 Dino intelligence may have never expanded into anything to match our own.
08:08 Crocodiles have been on Earth longer than us, and they're not running for president yet.
08:13 But that wouldn't matter so long as they topped the natural order,
08:16 and who or what was ever going to challenge them?
08:19 If the asteroid had never killed the dinosaurs, the chances are, then,
08:23 that untold future versions of Velociraptor and company, with or without human standard brains,
08:28 would still be roaming the wilds of Earth today.
08:31 Unless the planet presented an alternative means of extinction, namely global warming.
08:36 It may feel like a modern phenomenon, but global warming and climate change did,
08:41 and hypothetically would have, caused major problems for the dinosaurs, too.
08:45 The Mesozoic Era, formed of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods,
08:50 played host to large-scale changes on Earth.
08:53 Not least, the breakup of Pangaea into separate landmasses that eventually became the seven continents of today.
08:59 As a general rule, the planet was thriving until the asteroid hit,
09:03 in some parts like a show garden in full bloom.
09:06 Flowers were emerging and plants were diversifying.
09:09 But atmospheric changes, including shifts in carbon dioxide and oxygen levels,
09:14 were too much for some species.
09:16 Coupled with widespread and unprecedented volcanic eruptions, both before and after the asteroid impact,
09:22 the world might have been well on its way to wiping out the dinosaurs anyway.
09:26 The space rock just cleared the slate quicker.
09:29 In time, this might have set the scene for an alternative rise of the mammals,
09:33 just at a later point in history.
09:35 Or it might have ushered in an altogether different dominant species.
09:39 Obviously, we'll never know for sure.
09:41 But we're alive to even consider the possibilities at this exact point in time,
09:46 thanks in large part to that famously wayward, world-ruining rock.
09:51 21st century dinosaurs never became a reality, but even if they had,
09:56 then we more than likely wouldn't be here to appreciate them.
09:59 The day the asteroid hit was a death knell for the dinosaurs, but a new beginning for us.
10:04 Sparking 66 million years worth of awesome evolution.
10:08 All so that you can watch this video today.
10:11 As always, let us know what you think.
10:13 Hit the comments with anything dinosaur-related.
10:16 All interesting facts, thoughts, and theories are welcome.
10:20 How do you think history might have played out differently if they were never killed off?
10:24 What do you imagine the world would be like now if T-Rex was still the top dog?
10:29 Or is it your view that humans would still have emerged, one way or another?
10:33 And finally, if you have a video title that you really want to see made,
10:38 then be sure to let us know about that as well.
10:40 What do you think? Is there anything we missed?
10:43 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled,
10:46 and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.