Six month long hatching period may be key behind dinosaur extinction

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The cause for dinosaur extinction has been a great mystery for many years. Many possible solutions have been provided like meteorite strikes, the ice ages, inefficient body structure etc. But this time researchers might have struck gold. It has been found that dinosaur eggs took about 6 months to hatch. This long incubation period is now thought to have been the cause of the end of dinosaurs.

Researchers at Florida State University found the incubation period of dinosaurs by counting the number of marks on the teeth of baby's or embryos. It was found to between 3 to 6 months. According to an article on the 'New York Times' website, protecting the eggs for about half a year would have been difficult for the parents. And also the long hatching period would have meant slow population growth. In the event of a disaster, slow population growth would have been a major cause for extinction.

Since birds have evolved from dinosaurs, the incubation period was compared to that of birds and the results were analyzed. It is no mystery why birds and their ancestors survived extinction. As reported by 'The Telegraph', bird eggs take between 11-85 days to hatch. The ancestors of birds might have had similar hatching times and hence they were spared from extinction.

Although the mystery of the extinction of dinosaurs has not been yet completely solved, this discovery is a major step in discovering how the giant reptiles disappeared from life. And the technique used to determine dinosaur hatching times will prove useful in the study of fossilized embryos. There is little or no information as of yet available about the embryonic development of a dinosaur.

Future paleontologists might find out in detail how a dinosaur sperm develops into a full grown hatchling. Until then, there is room for discovery.