IF A BIG MEteor didn't wipe out the dinosaurs, would smart reptilians rule today?

Question

i wonder what they'd look like.. and what about their culture and technology..

Answer 1

That's doubtful, as most reptiles (and their direct ancestor aves or birds) aren't the smartest of creatures. The KT impact killed off much of the larger dinosaur life, allowing other animals like small mammals and birds to thrive.

Had there not been a KT impact, I'd still guess that most of the larger dinosaurs would have been killed off in one of the subsequent ice ages. Mammals are more adept at surviving climate changes than cold-blooded reptiles.

Edit: To respond to the poster below, that's a bunch of nonsense. There are actual scientific discoveries (research iridium) that show there was an asteroid impact right near Mexico 65 million years ago. Please don't put that religious, faith-based stuff up as an actual answer to a legitimate scientific question. Thanks.

Answer 2

Calling the dinosaurs reptiles might be a bit off base, they seem to have many warm blooded characteristics and if it is true that birds are descended from them they enjoyed some success in an age of giant bird predators even after the KT.

However mammals with placenta and nursing seem to have won out on the top end of the food chain. (still lots of birds out there)

One thing we know is that the dinosaurs where well adapted to the conditions they lived in, they had sophisticated refinements and behavior that made them wildly successful. That fact argues against them evolving intelligence, the need did not exist and the pay off would not have been fast enough in the world of vicious predators. Such predation favors direct countermeasures like numbers, armor, speed or climbing ability over figuring things out.

Answer 3

Culture and civilization are created and lost.Survivors inherit what are left by the losers.What remains they consume and make do with. They modify and adapt according to the needs of the time. Had the reptiles or dinosaurs survived they may have evolved into a more intelligent creatures like what happened to humans.

Answer 4

If you believe in Darwin's Theory of Evolution, I guess it would be relative to their environment and their ability to adapt. Pretty much all animals are dependent on each other in the food chain. If animal X eats animal B, and animal B becomes extinct for various reasons. Well animal X needs to adapt, if it can't, animal X is probably going to die too.

But anyways, to get a more accurate view on what dinosaurs or reptiles may of acted or looked like, we should look at the animals we believe are related and exist today or know existed at that period and continue to exist today. Animals like sharks, insects, alligators and birdlike creatures we have fossil evidence that they existed along with dinosaurs. From this we can observe how they lived evolved and compare that to their living relatives today. That is how we can get our best guess on how they would possibly look like or live if they hadn't died.

Answer 5

goodness only knows! but in one way at least if reptiles did ever decide to go down the big-brain route, they possess at least one huge anatomical advantage over mammals in that they lay eggs, so for them a huge skull size to hold a huge brain would be no great problem, whereas one might argue that human intelligence can never get much greater since without a lot of medical intervention poor human females simply could not produce little babies with skull sizes much larger than they presently are.
but as to their culture? well! some reptiles lay eggs in very large batches, so just imagine being brought up in a hatchery with a 100 or more brothers and sisters! and then imagine the arguments over who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning! gosh!

Answer 6

Possibly. I think there would be some that look like some of the animals we know today. Such as alligators and birds. Most likely most of them would be much larger. I doubt that there would be much "culture" or technology among them considering the dinosaurs only had brains the size of walnuts!

Answer 7

they would have still died coz when they were alive earth's atmosphere was reducing one, that is, more oxygen and more hotter. but now it is oxidising one, that is, less oxygen and during dinosaurs' age even colder than today's time( this is bcoz now global warming has taken place so you may feel that i am talking rubbish). well, so if dinos were unable to breath how can you think that they would have been alive? now when oxygen level started to normalise the dinos were already extinct and remaining ones evolved into birds coz some of the species were able to adapt to the fluctuations in the atmosphere and evolved to create avian species. phew..... thats all i learnt till now. did you found it satisfactory? is it a late answer? i dont care coz i have just joined. njoy! n reply if you liked my lil answer.

Answer 8

i guess mother nature looks after herself...
Animals like dinosaurs would not survive on earth today because of the conditions like space and food etc, the same way as there would be an immense problem in future if there are just births of living things and no deaths.
As it is we have to introduce strict measures to save animals like elephants and whales, which are much smaller than the dinosaur.
The poor loch-ness monster will have to be very quiet too....

Answer 9

The truth is, it was not a big meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. it was the flood during the time of Noah (that is, if you believe in the Bible) Genesis chapter 6. With their size, it's not possible for them to enter the ark. Better ask Dr. Thomas Sharpe (www.creationtruth.com). He can give you a much more detailed explanation. He is a scientist who concentrates his studies on dinos. God bless.

Answer 10

There's a science fiction book series starting with West of Eden that explores this possibility. The author is Harry Harrison.