Dinosaurs: The Last Days
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2023
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid the size of Mount Everest slammed into our planet, triggering the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and countless other species unable to adapt to the sudden environmental catastrophe that followed. What exactly happened on that fateful day, and what about the thousands of years after? Why did the most prominent creatures on the planet, the huge dinosaurs we know and love, die instantly, and how did other creatures like birds and crocodiles survive through to today?
In this episode, Tristan is joined by author Riley Black to take a deep dive into the disaster’s immediate effects, including the massive shockwaves, earthquakes, tsunamis and years of darkness that would trigger the extinction of three-quarters of all plant and animal species on our planet. Welcome to the single worst day in the history of life on Earth.
Riley's new book The Last Days of the DInosaurs is available here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Entrance on History Hit. |
| 0:12.5 | I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. |
| 0:14.6 | And in today's episode, we'll get this. |
| 0:16.6 | We're talking about the worst single day in the history of life on Earth. |
| 0:22.4 | The extinction of the dinosaurs that occurred some 66 million years ago when an asteroid |
| 0:30.1 | some seven miles across slams into the Earth causing the extinction of more than half |
| 0:38.1 | of the known species in the world, including, of course, most famously, the dinosaurs. |
| 0:46.4 | So what do we know about this paleontological armageddon? |
| 0:52.7 | What do we know about this day, the days that followed, the months, the years that followed, |
| 0:57.7 | how the Earth began to recover from this absolute catastrophe? |
| 1:04.1 | What to explain all about these last days of the dinosaurs and the creation of the world |
| 1:10.5 | we know today are as delighted to interview the highly renowned science writer, |
| 1:16.3 | Riley Black. |
| 1:17.8 | Riley has written a number of books all about dinosaurs, about paleontology. |
| 1:22.7 | One of their most recent books is all about this topic, about the mass extinction, about |
| 1:28.3 | the asteroid and what followed, what happens next. |
| 1:32.2 | It was a great pleasure to interview Riley all about this. |
| 1:35.3 | No doubt he's going to be a very, very popular topic and I really do hope you enjoy. |
| 1:41.6 | So without further ado, to talk all about this mass extinction event, the full of the |
| 1:46.0 | dinosaurs, this great asteroid, the worst day in the history of life on Earth is Riley. |
| 1:56.7 | Riley, it is wonderful to have you on the podcast today. |
| 1:59.3 | I was so lovely to be here and thank you. |
... |
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