What Exactly Killed The Dinosaurs? | Earth | BBC Earth Science

Since the 1980s, scientists have believed that the main culprit for the dinosaur extinction was an asteroid. It came from the far reaches of the solar system, and was the size of Mount Everest.
Don't miss Earth, a story 4.5 billion years in the making.
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Earth (2023)
Discover the astonishing four-billion-year story of the place we call home, told over five dramatic episodes. This revealing biography of Earth explores the planet's most epic moments. From the first raindrops that turned it into a water world to the arrival of its most incredible inhabitants, us. But humans take a back seat in this narrative. Instead, Earth is placed centre stage. We see what happened to our world before we even crawled from the mud - including massive bombardments from space, extreme changes in climate and the collision of whole continents. The series uses the trademark dramatic storytelling techniques of The Planets to bring this unique story of creation to life.
This is a channel from BBC Studios who help fund new BBC programmes. Service information and feedback: bbcworldwide.com/vod-feedback-...

[@adpirtle]

Talk about a bad day...

[@RichardHannay]

Don’t let a bad day bring you down

[@CatsBtrippin]

Wow can’t wait til we get this DLC, the graphics look amazing 😂

[@francisfischer7620]

Yes indeed!

[@user-vh6qy5yu5h]

barber bcome riches

[@user-hs7dw5ft1y]

Это хороший день для человечества, ведь если бы не вымерли динозавры, млекопитающие вряд ли получили бы шанс захватить сушу

[@junemacdonald44]

Dinosaurs boss: “so you’re still coming in today, though, right?”

[@xafar67]

"If the dinosaurs had had a space program, they would still be here today..." Carl Sagan

[@kalidah8431]

Well we have one,and we absolutly cant repel a 6 miles asteroid lmao,not yet anyway

[@xafar67]

@@kalidah8431 thats what you think...

[@kalidah8431]

@@xafar67 im listening

[@xafar67]

@@kalidah8431 you show me the six mile wide asteroid first...

[@kalidah8431]

@@xafar67 huh....what?

[@vindinol]

It's frightening that we are so helpless even it happens today

[@salesprosteve]

Don't believe this BS.

[@CockAndBallTorture.]

@@salesprosteveAre you seriously denying the KT Mass Extinction? 💀

[@sharad306]

NASA's DART. That's our defense.

[@emmanueljoshuad.parreno22]

Wtf​@@salesprosteve

[@george6252]

Only a Space Force equivalent to Star Trek would save us from a 6 mile wide space rock. Probably up to 100 years away.

[@gaurangchhangani7899]

These visuals have no business looking so stunning

[@bingbingbongbong9851]

Poor little dinosaurs. They had no idea what was going on. Just scared and in pain.

[@siobhanmcgoldrick4549]

I would litrely love to see a dinosaur in real life even though I mite be eating a minute later it would still be cool but a no one would be able to survive with them here but it would be cool to see one with my own eyes walking about

[@kymypy]

i cried

[@SamoStudios]

It's disturbing to think that this awesome animation (and most asteroid impact depictions) is still very watered down compared to reality, since if you were anywhere in line of sight, you would be vaporized immediately, before it even struck the ground.

[@ExtremeMadnessX]

Those who were vaporized were the lucky ones.

[@tedjovel1876]

It really is actually mind blowing to think about the earth shattering level of destruction it would cause.

[@freddiemehrcurry428]

On the other hand its incredible to think of what would have happened if the asteroid didn`t hit the earth? The reign of the dinosaurs lasted over 150 million years before the impact- would they still be here today if the asteroid had missed?

[@SamoStudios]

Avian dinosaur descendants are still thriving today so no reason to think they wouldn't, but we can surely say, that none of us would be here. Though it might be like the old Super Mario Bros. movie timeline instead, lol. @@freddiemehrcurry428

[@jaysparrow6631]

⁠​⁠@@freddiemehrcurry428interesting question, when you hear stories of dragons one must ask oneself were they dragons or were they dinosaurs as back then the word dinosaur didn’t exist so I put to you that there’s a temple in Cambodia where they have dinosaurs carved out of stone in which temples were made so there’s that.

[@tanganbabyrosak]

animation is getting better each year.maybe one day we will see a precise rendition of the event that kill all the dinosaurs

[@ibewill]

Not sure we could claim it being precise without ever being there, but the graphics are nice

[@stasi0238]

​@@ibewillI think he meant being able to calculate nearly everything about that asteroid and then with that data simulate what it would look like.

[@SojournerDidimus]

Precise yet not accurate

[@bleo8371]

you will see it first person

[@mothermovementa]

The dinosaurs must have been terrified 😢

[@floristfindspeace]

i just thought about this a few minutes ago. they must’ve been so confused :(

[@EVILalwaysDIES]

Impressive how even after that, the earth still grew back alive

[@adamprint644]

It’s nowhere near the worst mass extinction event. The Permian or great dying killed over 90% of all life over half a million years. This was before the dinosaurs.

[@theroyalcam]

even if the moon smashed into earth the planet would still survive and eventually support life again. which has already happened once before

[@Bbreezy1337]

Allah is the greatest

[@EVILalwaysDIES]

@@Bbreezy1337 i dont know about that, everyone that praising allah in middle east r always at war and fighting and getting killed

[@siobhanmcgoldrick4549]

I always said that to how was the earth suppose to grow back after that happens it's nuts

[@thecreativemastermindnetwo4685]

Finally, Now that's what I'm talking about, they really nailed the accurate depiction of explosion of the impact in both ground level view and in space view rather than a stereotypical mushroom cloud we always see in many asteroid impact documentaries, hope other documentaries will learn about the impact explosion dynamics from them in the future

[@_MaZTeR_]

3:15 Looks almost like the Death Star hitting the desert planet in Rogue One

[@sharonrigby176]

Poor dinos 🥺💔

[@rohaan.]

Lol 😂

[@NeilsonBuntowa]

Imagine the awesome species lost during the impact leaving no history to be discovered

[@montylc2001]

Bear in mind that the dinosaur fossil record only reveals about 5% of the species alive during the dinosaur age. Think about that.

[@fabiansackl6736]

03:14 is equally breathtakingly stunning as it is inherently frightening.

[@totallylegityoutubeperson4170]

the vfx team clearly copied the death star jedha scene from rogue one.

[@OmegaTrooper]

3:01 shout out to the cameraman that gave his life for this shot. Lost, but never forgotten.

[@JoshuaG13]

😂😂

[@MrBarryallstar]

cameraman never dies hahahaha

[@CamilasJohn-ik6cr]

😂😂 he is a legend Rip camera man

[@whaloe.builds1543]

The asteroid was likely a faster death for the dinosaurs as an extinction was pending anyways. If you look through the geological timeline there was a period of massive volcanic active before and after the impact. The Deccan traps formed on the moving indian plate and had already induced climate change, a similar effect to the Permian Triassic extinction. Its possible that without the volcanic activity the asteroid may not have wiped out the dinosaurs. The deccan traps is undermined by the asteriod but recent work suggests that the volcanic activity played a major role in the K-Pg event

[@montylc2001]

It's now thought that the impact caused the deccan traps to erupt.

[@kimannepark4709]

Without asteroid-chan's help, man wouldn't have existed

[@lickopotamusslurperton1944]

Amazingly, you can still see its impact and damage even today.

[@salesprosteve]

Amazingly you're more gullible than the rest of the viewers.

[@larskk101]

How?😊

[@Brotmeister]

@@larskk101Chicxulub Crater

[@ad206]

Not visibly. It's buried several thousand feet.

[@Pranjalchoudhary100]

03:05 damn that's some good animation. Looks epic!

[@felixnov5587]

THE ICE AGE!! *shoots ice laser*

[@rubegoldburg7841]

This video was EXCELLENT 👍👍👍 Thank you👍

[@petergreen5337]

Poor dinosaurs ; they didn't see it coming. What a way to go.

[@JohnPaul-oz9bx]

Can't help but feel sorry for the Dinosaurs 🦕

[@mothermovementa]

It makes me so sad 😞

[@bhbluebird]

Nice graphics, seriously. I watched the impact scenes from the ground perspective and space perspective several times.

[@Staralium]

The VFX is insane….

[@legitbeans9078]

Wow the graphics are insane! Props to the vfx team

[@MrDanMeman]

Fun fact: the trains in Japan still arrived on time the day the asteroid struck. Incredible.

[@kyorikusagami84]

Never use the word "fact" on a joke,dumbfuck

[@Great_WesternTVFan]

Source?

[@BogusOp]

this "Hit" was more devastating due to the angle at which it entered the atmosphere and subsequently hit

[@rgudduu]

Explain

[@simonhealey9253]

​@rgudduu it hit at 60 degrees which scientists call the deadliest angle because climate changing gases would be thrust into the atmosphere

[@rgudduu]

@@simonhealey9253 hmmm maybe right

[@montylc2001]

And also the material of the bedrock at the impact site. Created acid rain.

[@seanmadison6360]

If people don't know this by now I'd be amazed. How many more documentaries are going to be made about this?? Not to mention that he didn't even mention the real reason we understand where and what hit because of the iridium deposits in the soil layers.

[@salesprosteve]

It's just someone's point of view... Nobody was around to witness it lol.

[@itsjustjaydenandgames1262]

@@salesprosteveit’s not a pov it’s working theory. The best one yet.

[@supertuber120]

Not only are there people that don't know this but there are people that don't even realize that dinosaurs are extinct. Not kidding, worked with one.

[@seanmadison6360]

You worked with someone that thought they were still alive or thought that they never existed?@@supertuber120

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

Sephiroth got tired of their shit is all…

[@George.Coleman]

About time someone did a realistic representation

[@eliali6484]

Cool animation!

[@alderlopezcastro4928]

3:29 we can even here some dino cries

[@oneone5028]

The explosion shown in this video is lot better with more clarity than the Oppenheimer hype

[@sachinnair3927]

CGI vs Reality Comparing here

[@cynthiacarter532]

I remember as a kid in the late 1950's reading that no one knew why they suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Still can't wrap my head around today's birds being their descendants and maybe some dinosaurs had feathers and were brightly colored! There is so much we still don’t know about our planet’s past.

[@Vasta.]

This is impressive, would like to see the place where the asteroid fell.

[@khurramkhurshed9427]

Interesting information

[@GiriNaidu]

Once dinosaurs wiped out ! now Humans ! then who will be next !! Once happens that means it can happen again !! really scary to imagine what will happen in future !!

[@wswddl5058]

what is the name of this episode and where can i watch it

[@ChloeASMR91]

I want a full video on this

[@bio-metric-1016]

And one hit about 12500 years ago and another will come from the asteroid belt that passes our planet twice a year in June and October

[@Marco-yr9vu]

Hello! Where can I see this full documentary?? @bbc

[@Its_A_London_Thing]

Did you ever find it?

[@Marco-yr9vu]

@@Its_A_London_Thing no , let me know if you do!

[@SenzelwaNxele]

how do humans know this but there was no human when that tragedy happend🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

[@aengor]

Ever heard of geology??

[@aashutripathi5497]

यह घटना एक प्राचीन भारतीय ग्रंथों में वर्णित एक कहावत को चरितार्थ करती है कि "विनाश से ही उत्पति का सृजन होता है" क्योंकि उस महाविनाश के बाद धरती पर मनुष्य का सृजन हुआ।

[@JamesHarris-]

I certainly hope you don't think I had anything to do with it!

[@Jean-tz7ft]

Assumptions, as no one was present

[@ad206]

These aren't assumptions.

[@SojournerDidimus]

How about that extraordinary claim of millions of years?

[@aengor]

Not extraordinary at all. It is based on geochronology by radiometric dating. But let me guess, you’re a Bible thumper, aren’t you?

[@alexbowman7582]

Eggs vs live birth and suckling? Live birth would eventually win.

[@1Kent]

My grandpa farted after eating cabbage. They didn't stand a chance...

[@XF201]

I wonder why it happened! It changed whole world completely

[@Roberto-nj5yr]

The asteroid was sent by alien civilization from another solar system so that they can get rid of dinosaurs to pave the way for human civilization.

[@symmetry08]

became colder, thus destroying eco-system.

[@livedirt]

Pop quiz.... Which day was worse? A The last day of the dinosaurs B The last hemroid you had C Jan 20th, 2020, 12:01pm

[@misskirimi6866]

Something decided to destroy all dinosaurs so that human can evolve and live. Poor dinos 💔

[@_MIKIMOTO_]

If an asteroid of this magnitude hit earth today would be a catastrophic event and costly at that every nation in the world would take years to recover if they survived

[@itsjustjaydenandgames1262]

Long story short, we would all be died.

[@SharksSJ408]

Thank you for enlightening us all with the knowledge that an extinction level asteroid impact would be “catastrophic and costly” if it happened today.

[@avisantos3839]

shoutout to the camera man

[@I.Odnamra]

The smoking gun was the shocked quartz that was found during a drilling operation.

[@totallylegityoutubeperson4170]

looks like someone superimposed the death star destruction scene from rogue one and touched it up a bit to not catch any attention. except i did. you also wouldn't have even seen a rock or a trail as it happens in 2:40. it would have simply been pulses of blinding light followed by a white out event until the resulting fireball and cloud had formed

[@drapoel120]

It shows how the VFX team artist at rogue one did a great job of accurately depicting what exactly it should look like.

[@user-sc3ts6lf8r]

When it happens again .... Can we now stop or deflect it.... Or do we just watch and die ?

[@user-wm5tt6me3i]

Did the fire rain travel across the globe? Just wondering why it killed ALL the dinosaurs but not all life

[@justonecornetto80]

It wasn`t the fire rain that wiped out the dinosaurs. The asteroid strike vapourised the gypsum on the sea floor causing it to be ejected into the atmosphere as an aerosol. This blocked out the sun for several years causing photosynthesis in plants to become highly reduced. It also caused the oceans to become acidified in turn triggering catastrophic changes to the world`s climate. The plant eating dinosaurs couldn`t adapt to the shock on the global ecosystem resulting in the carnivorous dinosaurs that fed on them also perishing. The effect on the dinosaurs is most noticeable because they were the most widely dispersed large creatures on the planet but the KT strike in fact wiped out 75% of all life on Earth including mammals, sharks and insects etc

[@KristinkaAranova]

Only large dinosaurs were wiped out over a period of some years,

[@lostworld5667]

Then why other species survived?

[@_MaZTeR_]

Buried underground or in water

[@furrybear7853]

Food chain all but gone Apex predators goodbye Vienna! Clear some life survive and thank goodness or we may never had become what we are today! All these pathetic religious clowns can go pray in the corner and do nothing for our species while science figures out a way to prevent it doing it to us! You want fiction go to a church or mosque you want truth, facts and rescue put you faith in Science baby!❤✌

[@erikallen863]

And in air.

[@JohnnyAngel8]

Right. Ground dwelling animals had a chance, protected underground, and gave rise to mammalian supremacy.@@_MaZTeR_

[@adam_p99]

“Other” All species survived in one way or another. Even the dinosaurs. But mammals did better.

[@alexbowman7582]

Perhaps it was us who finally finished off the dinosaurs, when I say us I mean our ancient ancestors who were small rodent like burrowing mammals. These ancient mammals would have lived underground eating whatever they could find, roots, dead animals and dinosaur eggs. The dinosaurs may have made an eventual comeback but the mammals ate their eggs preventing this. Even today rats from ships landing on remote islands can wipe out ground roosting birds.

[@aengor]

And of course, this would explain the extinction of ammonites, rudists, marine reptiles and many other groups at the same time. 😂

[@rgudduu]

Rats don't eat broiler eggs?

[@alexbowman7582]

@rgudduu wasn't rats but rats should eat grain and seeds but will eat anything

[@Jetairplane]

Man what I would have given to be able to fly that 6 mile wide rock down to earth

[@steellegion1490]

That literally makes no sense.

[@Jetairplane]

@@steellegion1490 I’m a pilot and I want to fly that asteroid even if it means death.

[@steellegion1490]

@@Jetairplane You can't fly an asteroid, and you can't survive that high up in earths orbit. I would think a "pilot" would know this.

[@Jetairplane]

@@steellegion1490 I will wear goggles man please don’t ruin it for me !

[@user-sc3ts6lf8r]

It would have blown Goggles of

[@Sans-the-short-skeleton]

“kaboom?” “Yes astroid,” “kaboom.” ☄️ 🌏

[@gualbertocarvajal9307]

After the earth was hitted by the asteroid... How can bacterias and little animals survived if there isn't food and oxygen

[@BubbaSmurft]

I'm with Larson, smoking killed the Dino's.

[@josephdanquah313]

So all the dynasous were gathered at one location, and every one of them perished there and then... not even one was outside the perimeters?

[@joemariejames4757]

Yes

[@josephdanquah313]

@@joemariejames4757 And you know this how?

[@aengor]

Lol, are you for real? What a dumb question!

[@AndoCommando1000]

There was no “end of the perimeter” The asteroid hit at such monumental velocity that molten fragments and rock, soil, soot, dirt and dust created clouds that circled the earth and blocked out the sun for multiple years. Sure, there may have been an explosion with a finite blast radius, but even the blast radius would have been a thousand miles in diameter. But the lack of sunlight would have led to mass die offs of plants and vegetation, which led to a collapse of the food chain because large herbivores starved, and large carnivores would have died shortly. Nothing larger than the size of a modern-day cat wouod have survived on the surface, and those mammals would have likely scavenged, eaten insects, or eaten even smaller mouse-sized creatures. Underground seeds would hade laid dormant and would have begun growing again once the multi-year winter was over when the dust clouds cleared.

[@ad206]

That's not the way it works.

[@diocletian607]

Day of Lavos

[@dickchambes3514]

🪼 jellyfish actually survived this crazy event and other deep sea dwellers

[@TheLineCutter]

with all due respect ... the cénote cave images shows clusters in different locations. if the clusters should be a result from the different rock substance left over after the impact then wouldn't you see these cluster ONLY in this impact area? the cause does not seem to exclude them emerging in HIGH numbers away from the site. so unless there is a good reason to explain why they occur elsewhere then your "imaginative circle" of cénotes is not a smoking gun. the layer of asteroid material found in multiple locations dating backto 65 million years old at least indates a global event and causation to it being asteroid. but THIS, does not seem like causal evidence to me.

[@rgudduu]

Agree

[@Daniel-xv3nw]

66 milion years ago ... thats far beyond my imagination

[@Cleeon]

One question please, why i never see or find any literature about the digger dinosaurs? The dinosaurus which always burrowing and digging for their life? I think they'll survive with that theory

[@ad206]

Dinosaurs didn't dig. Mammals did, that's why they exist today.

[@itsjustjaydenandgames1262]

Mhm yeah, because a T. rex could definitely dig far with his little paws!

[@snuckel4]

Did you forget famine?

[@olejakobaune8033]

I thought the asteroid was alot smaller and it unleashed the Deccan Traps which was the main reason for the extinction

[@jimsagubigula7337]

No, it was the asteroid

[@iankelly8666]

Wow a billion nuclear explosions left one hole

[@twix2756]

A moon of saturn was destroyed, debris from said event hit earth, 65 million years ago. Not a coincidence.

[@spruce6877]

wow

[@Mr._POV_]

What killed dinos was selective yet precise extinction plan from a type 1 or 2 civilization. 😎

[@Ogokao]

James Cameron made very impressive special effect here

[@KYZR97]

Correction For The Narrator: the land bridge that was constructed by an asteroid, the same with the gulf of Mexico, those asteroids made bigger impacts then the ones where y’all be lookin’ for

[@Aranimda]

This is the only way The Netherlands may ever get a mountain.

[@therealknapster]

The creator wasn't happy with the results of the experiment . . . New it could be better

[@tooniemama6959]

Read Steve Brusette's book: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Excellent book!

[@IMAN7THRYLOS]

A bad day for reptiles, a great day for mammals! GO MAMMALS!

[@simon.nafisa]

It is like a Nuclear bomb but thousand times bigger

[@dxitydevil]

Someone said the asteroid was the equivalent of 3 million tsar bombas 😰

[@KenSoHappyClegg]

I was there, I recalled it when I was five yrs old in 1963 I'm an inner/soul work type of Pisces, Sun 06° 2nd house ; who at 5 yrs old in 1963, recalled a past-life memory of my first life and death on earth. It was the night the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. I was in bed and suddenly I could see we were all running in the dark and burning to death instantly. As I stood in my bed, screaming bloody murder, I could see on the wall or through the wall, all these dinosaur silhouettes running against a firey sky on the horizon. Flames were coming faster than the silhouettes could run and then the fire got me too. The theory that an asteroid or comet caused a worldwide extinction wasn't proposed until the 1980s. In this lifetime, I'm an explosion/burn survivor who has fulfilled my ancient karmic cycle of dying by fire repeatedly after nearly an immeasurable amount of lifetimes. Starting on other planets in other star systems before earth had life.

[@ad206]

You're thinking of JFK, not the dinosaur asteroid.

[@coollak96]

I thought it was the Ice Age

[@tai-au]

2:28

[@iMwAtErhEHe]

Fun fact: this happens 65.5 million years ago

[@user-uq9wf3bz4k]

Bro literally sounds like Elmer Fudd

[@RiveBassCovers]

What killed the dinosaurs? The Ice Age!!! - Mr. Freeze -

[@kone.linngus3651]

That's a lot of sinotays...

[@TheAfterglowProject]

I know what killed the dinosaurs. Taxes.

[@daniel_7853]

If it wasn’t for the asteroid hitting earth we probably wouldn’t be alive

[@YouareAlreadyDead700]

One night a raptor wishes from the stars I wish I could fly. Then a shooting star falls down from Earth. Shooting stars can grant your wishes its a prehistoric knowledge. Since ancient times.

[@ngabacletus9677]

That evidence for the astroid strike sounds rather lame to me

[@darkonyx6995]

A layer of minerals only found in asteroids separating the boundary between the Cretaceous and Paleogene, with all non-avian dinosaur fossils disappearing after the layer is a strong evidence for the asteroid extinction, specially when you have a giant crater that also dates back to the same age as the conveniently placed layer of asteroid remnants.

[@idvetryn2790]

You’re not sat in it stop chatting you’ll get slapped😂🤣

[@deanb3033]

Panet Earth could use another one of these to "restart" imho

[@Bolaceleste4013]

Not funny

[@MLGxBXRxPRO]

What exactly killed the dinosaurs? MEEEEEE!!!!

[@ST-kh5wm]

i wish dinosaurs never went extinct

[@MrYougotcaught]

In April 13, 2029...Friday the 13th, we might be next

[@The_Grandpa]

As the Earth is flat, when the asteroid struck, it flipped the Earth and flung the dinosaurs into space.