Non-avian dinosaurs went extinct because they were generally maladapted and unable to cope with normal climate change.

Is it true that non-avian dinosaurs went extinct because they were generally maladapted and unable to cope with normal climate change?

Partly. Several peer-reviewed sources attribute the non-avian dinosaur extinction mainly to the asteroid impact and find no long-term maladaptive decline, while a few studies report an environmentally driven decline linked to climate cooling and reduced evolutionary novelty before the impact. The evidence covers parts of the claim but does not settle that maladaptation to normal climate change was the cause.

Verdict: CONTESTED PARTIAL · 2 sources for, 4 against · Last checked 3 Oct 2026

The private library was unavailable for some searches in this check. Missing library results are not evidence against the claim.

Distinct Responses of Elasmobranchs and Ray-Finned Fishes to Long-Term Global Change. (2020). hal.science. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00513

The extinction of the dinosaurs. (n.d.). cir.nii.ac.jp. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12128

Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures. (n.d.). cir.nii.ac.jp. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0

Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures. (2021). hal.science. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23754-0

Why did the dinosaurs become extinct? Could cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) deficiency be the answer? - PMC Lock. (n.d.). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2019.7

Unexpected resilience of species with temperature-dependent sex determination at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary. (2010). doi.org. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2010.0882

How an asteroid ended the age of the dinosaurs | Natural History Museum. (n.d.). nhm.ac.uk. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-an-asteroid-caused-extinction-of-dinosaurs.html