New dinosaur theory

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 9

New dinosaur theory

(N.Z.P..4.-Reuter — Copyright) LONDON, October 14.

Dinosaurs became extinct by slowly poisoning themselves in an extraordinary evolutionary battle with the plants they ate about 100 million years ago, according to a new theory by British scientists.

Dr Anthony Swain, direct-: or of the bio-chemical labor-i atory at Kew Gardens, said yesterday that it was now! thought that flowering plantsl were being threatened by the huge demands of the herbivorous reptiles, and, after millions of years, the plants retaliated by producing vast quantities of tannin, which made them indigestible, and toxic alkaloids, including strychnine. “Falling world temperatures may have contributed to the dinosaurs’ demise, but I disagree with the idea that they were wiped out one Thursday afternoon by some cataclysmic event,” Dr Swain said.

“Evidence put forward for the new theory includes .the position in which some dinosaurs died, the varying thickness of the shells of thin eggs, deduced from fossils and experiments carried out in the “Royal Botanical Gardens laboratories.”