The asteroid just simply came at the wrong time.

According to scientists, if the asteroid that hit earth and wiped out the dinosaurs had come at a "more convenient" time,  maybe a few million years earlier or later, then those prehistoric creatures would probably still be alive today.

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Some scientists go as far as saying that if the dinosaurs had not died out, they would have even developed almost human-like intelligence. Other scientists dispute this belief.

Dr. Steve Brusatte of the Edinburgh School of GeoSciences stated that the dinosaurs simply had a stroke of bad luck - very bad luck.

If a giant asteroid hitting the earth wasn't bad enough, its timing came at a period when the world's ecosystems were at its most vulnerable, having been weakened by a devastating loss of diversity due to the earth undergoing changes. Volcanic eruptions, temperature fluctuations and changes in sea levels made species susceptible to extinction.

At the time the asteroid struck, the world was experiencing a loss of large herbivores which made up the base of the dinosaur food chain, leaving larger meat-eating dinosaurs with fewer and much smaller food choices.

Brusatte likened the weakened herbivore population to getting hit by a bus - if you have a limp or a sprained ankle, you're more likely to get run over by a fast-moving bus. The same goes for a weak ecosystem and an asteroid quickly plummeting into the earth.

Brusatte and his fellow scientists all agree that extinction came abruptly, happening within a few thousands or even hundreds of years. "Dinosaurs weren't wasting away for tens of millions of years," he added.

Scientists believe that if the asteroid had hit the earth at a time when large herbivorous dinosaurs were still abundant or had recovered its population, the calamity might not have triggered a "dinopocalypse".

Brusatte shared, "I think dinosaurs are a cautionary tale. When you mess with diversity, you can be even more susceptible to a knockout blow."

TagsPaleontology, Dinosaurs, Fossils, asteroid