For as far back as I can remember, I've always had a fascination with history. In grade school I had dreamed of being an archaeologist traveling the world and digging up dinosaur bones (after all, what little boy didn't like dinosaurs?) Of particular fascination was the demise of the dinosaurs: What caused their disappearance? Meteorites, fire storms, tidal waves, an ice age? German scholar Niels Rattenborg offers a new theory:
DINOSAURS were most likely killed off because they never got a good night's sleep, scientists have claimed.
Giant meteorites from outer space, fire storms, tidal waves and an ice age have all been suggested by experts to explain the demise of T-Rex and other giant dinosaurs.
However, the latest theory to explain their extinction claims they did not survive because their reptilian sleeping patterns meant their brains did not learn new skills properly.
Unlike mammals and birds, reptiles are unable to experience slow wave sleep, the type of sleep believed to be responsible for boosting memories, especially those connected to performing new tasks.
As a result, reptiles are much more limited in the type of complex behaviour they can experience than other animals such as mammals and birds.
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