A Climate Change Story starring Dinosaurs, "Global Warming" & YOU!
What is Climate Change? It can be very confusing to try and understand what climate change really is with so many ideas and so much misinformation. Dinosaur Apocalypse: A Climate Change Story will take you through the entire history of our planet and show you what scientists have learned about climate and climate change by looking at more than 4 billion years of history.
You will probably find yourself surprised at how much our planet changes - from boiling hot to freezing cold. Climate Change is a natural part of our planet's history and how we humans have adapted and must continue to adapt to the changes is a part of our history.
Why do we call this Dinosaur Apocalypse? Dinosaurs appeared and disappeared in large part because changing climates helped make all kinds of changes in their environments. Sometimes these changes were brought about by some pretty big disasters, such as volcanoes and asteroids. Because so many people like dinosaurs, we thought it would be helpful to use them to explain how climate change works.
It's important to remember that what you see on our web site is based on real science, done by real scientists whose work has been tested and re-tested by other scientists.
You will probably find yourself surprised at how much our planet changes - from boiling hot to freezing cold. Climate Change is a natural part of our planet's history and how we humans have adapted and must continue to adapt to the changes is a part of our history.
Why do we call this Dinosaur Apocalypse? Dinosaurs appeared and disappeared in large part because changing climates helped make all kinds of changes in their environments. Sometimes these changes were brought about by some pretty big disasters, such as volcanoes and asteroids. Because so many people like dinosaurs, we thought it would be helpful to use them to explain how climate change works.
It's important to remember that what you see on our web site is based on real science, done by real scientists whose work has been tested and re-tested by other scientists.
Pizzlies and Narlugas
If you never heard those words before, join the club! What the heck is a pizzly? In 2006 some hunters shot a bear that they thought was a polar bear. When they saw what they had up close, they were quite surprised. Polar bears are supposed to be totally white, but this bear had brown patches of fur. Scientists examined the bear and discovered it was a “hybrid”, the result of a polar bear and grizzly bear having a baby bear. Polar + Grizzly = Pizzly!
The big question is how did two different bear species that have been separated by climate get together to make baby bears? The answer is climate change. Warming climate in the arctic is making it possible for the grizzly bears in the south to move into polar bear territory. This has never happened before in human history.
Bears aren’t the only animals to do this. That is where we get that second name in the title. Two whale species normally separated by water temperature are getting together and having baby whales. Narwhals, those odd-looking whales with the long spike on their nose (it is actually a tooth) and beluga whales are getting together in the warming seas of the far north. Melting arctic ice used to create effective barriers to this kind of activity, but climate change is changing that. In fact, in the north, more than 30 different animals are thought to be hybrids because of climate change.
The big question is how did two different bear species that have been separated by climate get together to make baby bears? The answer is climate change. Warming climate in the arctic is making it possible for the grizzly bears in the south to move into polar bear territory. This has never happened before in human history.
Bears aren’t the only animals to do this. That is where we get that second name in the title. Two whale species normally separated by water temperature are getting together and having baby whales. Narwhals, those odd-looking whales with the long spike on their nose (it is actually a tooth) and beluga whales are getting together in the warming seas of the far north. Melting arctic ice used to create effective barriers to this kind of activity, but climate change is changing that. In fact, in the north, more than 30 different animals are thought to be hybrids because of climate change.
The Acid Rain Story
Climate Change? Meet People Who Live It!
Giant Storms and Dead Dinosaurs
What Killed the Giant Spinosaurus?
Meet Stiggy!
Just click on the links above to see the great new stories on the Dinosaur Apocalypse web site!
Climate Change? Meet People Who Live It!
Giant Storms and Dead Dinosaurs
What Killed the Giant Spinosaurus?
Meet Stiggy!
Just click on the links above to see the great new stories on the Dinosaur Apocalypse web site!
Throughout the more than 160 million years of the Mesozoic Era that dinosaurs walked the Earth, many events such as major floods and forest fires were caused, or contributed to, by Climate Change. Climate Change events that we see today, in our human life-span, occurred all the time during the age of the dinosaurs. In many cases, these events were huge catastrophes that killed or altered much of the life that existed in areas affected by the change.
Many of the illustrations on this web site are by paleoartists Julius Csotonyi and Ajla Kopcic. You can see more of Julius' work at www.csotonyi.com
