What you should know about dinosaurs

Dinosaurs have been in the news lately. No, they haven’t been able to dislodge our local headlines, which remain embroiled in militancy, mayhem, and fractured politics; but if you’re a curious consumer of global news, you would’ve noticed it. The splash is that dinosaurs — which are among the largest and fiercest animals ever to walk the earth — became extinct even more rapidly than previously thought.

The demise of dinosaurs has been one of paleontology’s most vexing mysteries. Their fragmented skeletons have been regularly discovered across the world from the mid-1800s onwards; the largest ones suggest that these animals measured up to 120 feet in length and weighed up to 100 tonnes. It beggars belief that such powerful and formidable beasts could ever suffer as unceremonious an exit as biological extinction.

Yet, disappear they did, and so devastatingly that even their bones are now hard to find. There is an obvious parable here for the human species to learn from. Those who find themselves in power and authority and constantly have their heads in the clouds should take heed that such advantages can vanish and be ephemeral. The various terrorists who train their guns on us and our children, the politicians who were fortunate to win elections but have been fattening themselves up with graft, and the world’s great superpowers, whose high-handedness has made such a mess of our neighbourhood, are some of the intended audience of this chastening message.

Most scientists now agree that dinosaurs became extinct from the after-effects of a meteor strike. That cataclysmic event happened 65 million years ago, but its geological signature — including remnants of the impact crater and a layer of iridium-rich dust buried worldwide — are still around. The site measures six miles across and lies underwater off the coast of what is now Mexico. It would have resulted in an unimaginably destructive explosion, spewing molten rock and dust into the atmosphere with such blinding force that it spread across the entire planet, dropping temperatures and blocking sunlight for many millennia.

Previous evidence had indicated that dinosaurs became extinct within 300,000 years of this catastrophe. New research suggests the demise was an order of magnitude quicker, probably within 33,000 years. That may seem like a long time, but on a geological scale it’s an extremely thin slice — the equivalent of just two-and-a-half days in an entire human lifespan.

There is more to the dinosaur parable than just the crushing fall of the high and mighty. These creatures were highly predatory animals and their reign of terror inhibited growth along other branches of the tree of life. Their disappearance thus created a welcome opportunity for meeker and weaker life forms to flourish. Mammals appear to have benefited from this the most, as compelling fossil evidence shows that complex vertebrates capable of placental birth emerged soon after the great dinosaur mass extinction. This represents the earliest appearance on Earth of our own extended biological family, ultimately paving the way for humans to evolve.

The unmistakable message in all this is that the weak and disadvantaged should never be written off. Even the most ghastly cruelty (and the current suffering of Pakistan’s citizens certainly comes close) can suddenly have an unexpected and dramatic end. When the dust settles, the downtrodden will be well-placed to bloom and rise.

The rise and fall of dinosaurs is no different from the rise and fall of human civilisation’s most brutal empires and oppressors. The only salient distinction is that dinosaurs were not human, but you could say the same about the many tyrants and tormenters who have wrought evil upon innocent multitudes.

As extremists run amok without mercy or remorse and our elected leaders look the other way, Pakistani society continues to convulse with terror and anguish. It may be hard to conceive at the moment, yet there is doubtless some event or entity lurking around that is capable of reconfiguring this dismal scenario in a snap. It is woven not just into the history of humanity, but the history of our entire planet. And history repeats itself.

Today, dinosaurs captivate our imagination as archeological curiosities. Their skeletal finds are dug up from far-flung regions, such as desolate stretches of the American west or the bleak deserts of Mongolia. They decorate lobbies and atriums as prized museum exhibits. They speak of an instructive past, if only we would pay attention.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2013.