I read somewhere that the oxygen concentration was much higher back then to a point where dinosaurs would not be viable in today’s atmosphere. They would have to stay in air tight enclosures. In a way that makes me feel safer about bringing them back. OH NO THE RAPTORS ESCAPED…. aaaand they suffocated. They’re dead now.
Dinosaurs should still be fine. The oxygen concentration really applied to animals with passive breathing systems like insects. Insects don’t actually breathe, they sort of just let the air directly oxygenate their blood. They can’t regulate breathing faster when they need more oxygen.
Dinosaurs have forced breathing through lungs. The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived including even the most massive dinosaurs, and blue whales still breathe air.
There’s not much difference between a velociraptor and a modern bird of prey either, other than the teeth.
No that’s absolutely false too. Atmospheric oxygen was lower during the Jurassic and Cretaceous than it is today.
It peaked during the Carboniferous period, and then started declining in the Triassic and bottomed out right around the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event 200MYA, then rapidly increased again. Dinosaurs became the dominant terrestrial species after this, and all of the huge dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
That’s very likely true for insects and other creatures that don’t actually have lungs, and dubiously true for things with lungs. It certainly may have influenced their size to some extent but scientists far smarter than me have no reason to suspect they wouldn’t be able to breathe today.
You’re thinking of the carboniferous period, which was 50 million years before the start of the triassic period, and 250 million years before the end of the cretaceous period. Here’s the timeline:
Trees be chilling and making oxygen and turning into coal
Bugs show up and use the rich oxygen to grow huge
Amphibians come onto land and say what’s up
Bugs and amphibians use up the rich oxygen and start eating the plants
Dinosaurs evolve from amphibians AFTER the oxygen level has dropped
Dinosaurs spend the next 200 million years being the dominant land animals until the asteroid shows up
Mammals kick ass because they can deal with the cold better than those cold blooded reptiles
Very smart mammals invent petroleum and plastic and warm the globe up until there’s a mass extinction event and the decimation of mammal life
Dinosaurs evolve again because it’s nice and warm again
I read somewhere that the oxygen concentration was much higher back then to a point where dinosaurs would not be viable in today’s atmosphere. They would have to stay in air tight enclosures. In a way that makes me feel safer about bringing them back. OH NO THE RAPTORS ESCAPED…. aaaand they suffocated. They’re dead now.
Dinosaurs should still be fine. The oxygen concentration really applied to animals with passive breathing systems like insects. Insects don’t actually breathe, they sort of just let the air directly oxygenate their blood. They can’t regulate breathing faster when they need more oxygen.
Dinosaurs have forced breathing through lungs. The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived including even the most massive dinosaurs, and blue whales still breathe air.
There’s not much difference between a velociraptor and a modern bird of prey either, other than the teeth.
They do need extra oxygen to do anything, though. They might be able to walk around, but they’ll tire quickly if they have to do any exertion.
Whales don’t have to run on land, and the biggest ones have no predators besides humans.
No that’s absolutely false too. Atmospheric oxygen was lower during the Jurassic and Cretaceous than it is today.
It peaked during the Carboniferous period, and then started declining in the Triassic and bottomed out right around the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event 200MYA, then rapidly increased again. Dinosaurs became the dominant terrestrial species after this, and all of the huge dinosaurs lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131118081043.htm
Studies of air bubbles trapped in amber revealed atmospheric oxygen levels of 10-15% during the time the largest dinosaurs existed. We have 21% today.
Great, so they’d hyperventilate and keep getting dizzy. A bunch of hyper oxygenated, dizzy velociraptors. What could go wrong.
That’s very likely true for insects and other creatures that don’t actually have lungs, and dubiously true for things with lungs. It certainly may have influenced their size to some extent but scientists far smarter than me have no reason to suspect they wouldn’t be able to breathe today.
You’re thinking of the carboniferous period, which was 50 million years before the start of the triassic period, and 250 million years before the end of the cretaceous period. Here’s the timeline:
Trees be chilling and making oxygen and turning into coal
Bugs show up and use the rich oxygen to grow huge
Amphibians come onto land and say what’s up
Bugs and amphibians use up the rich oxygen and start eating the plants
Dinosaurs evolve from amphibians AFTER the oxygen level has dropped
Dinosaurs spend the next 200 million years being the dominant land animals until the asteroid shows up
Mammals kick ass because they can deal with the cold better than those cold blooded reptiles
Very smart mammals invent petroleum and plastic and warm the globe up until there’s a mass extinction event and the decimation of mammal life
Dinosaurs evolve again because it’s nice and warm again