Dinosaurs — and why we didn’t have them in the Philippines

(Conclusion) Where have they gone?

Imagine if dinosaurs were still alive today. What do you think the Earth will look like? How will man interact with these creatures? Well, you only have to watch dinosaur movies like Jurassic Park in order to have an idea. But in any case, dinosaurs are long extinct so you don’t have to worry. But what happened to them? Why did they die out?

To start with, the Mesozoic era is divided into three periods, each marked by mass extinction at the end. Different groups of dinosaurs lived in each period. The age of the dinosaurs began with the Triassic period (245-208 million years ago). During this time, dinosaurs were relatively small, and most were quite similar. Pterosaurs also first appeared during this period. Coelophysis and Plateosaurus flourished in the Triassic. This period is followed by the Jurassic (208-145 million years ago) where the Earth was dominated by the largest animals that ever lived which include the Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus and Stegosaurus. The ancestors of the first birds also lived during this time. The Cretaceous (145-65 million years ago) marked the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. The first flowering plants developed in this period, accompanied by the abundance of insects. Tyrannosaurus rex ruled this period, along with the famous horned dinosaur Torosaurus (meaning "bull lizard"). As you can see T. rex couldn’t have possibly preyed on Stegosaurus because they lived during different periods.

The massive extinction that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous killed not only dinosaurs but other animals as well, on land and even in the seas. One of the most famous theories used to explain the death of the dinosaurs is that a large heavenly body (meteorite or asteroid) hit the Earth 65 million years ago. This impact led to a sharp drop in the Earth’s temperature, which killed the dinosaurs, among others. Other theories include large-scale volcanic eruptions, epidemics and changes in the Earth’s orbit or magnetic field. Incidentally, man and other mammals flourished after the death of the dinosaurs which makes us wonder whether God did that on purpose, assuming that dinosaurs did become extinct.

From dinosaurs to birds

Ask most paleontologists and they will tell you that birds probably did originate from dinosaurs in the same way that man may have evolved from apes. They can even tell you at least 20 different characteristics that are shared by a certain group of dinosaurs and the first birds. But how did they come to this crazy idea? It all began with the discovery of Archaeopteryx in Germany during the early 1860s. Archaeopteryx had all the characteristics of an early reptile, including sharp, pointed teeth. What sets this creature apart from the other reptiles during its time is that it is covered by what appears to be feathers. Since then many other supposedly "missing links" were discovered all over the world, further strengthening the idea that the feathery creatures of today did come from the giant reptiles from the past. Now you will never look at chicken the same way again.

Why weren’t there dinosaurs in the Philippines?

In 1987, paleontologists from the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines discovered bones of Stegodon sp. in Tres Hermanas, Antipolo, Rizal. Although the name Stegodon sounds like that of a dinosaur, it is not. It is an extinct elephant that once lived in the Philippines thousands of years ago. There are also other fossils found in the country but most are microscopic marine organisms.

So why weren’t there dinosaurs discovered in the Philippines? Scientists believe that there were no dinosaurs in the Philippines because at the time dinosaurs were alive there was no "Philippines" yet. The "Philippines" was under the deep blue sea, its mass was formed only during the Tertiary period (65-1.64 million years ago), a few millions of years after the last dinosaurs lived. You see, some of the 7,001 islands of the Philippines came from different parts of the world and converged in this part of Asia a long time ago.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if one day someone finds dinosaur bones in the Philippines. Take New Zealand as an example. Scientists first thought it would be impossible to find dinosaurs in New Zealand for a number of reasons. It took an old woman with no formal paleontological training to prove that the conventional knowledge about where dinosaurs lived in the past is wrong. Joan Wiffen, the "Dragon Lady" as she is now called, placed New Zealand in the world map when Mesozoic reptiles were found there. "I was too ignorant to know that dinosaurs officially never existed in New Zealand," she said. Paleontologists initially thought that the islands in New Zealand were too small and isolated and that it has a very turbulent geologic history for dinosaurs to survive: conditions not unlike that of the Philippines.

So if there were, indeed, dinosaurs in the Philippines, where are they likely to be found? Palawan and Mindoro are the most logical places to begin the search. This is because these islands were once part of mainland China, with rocks older than the dinosaurs themselves. Like the "dinosaur hunters" of the past, all it takes is a lot of patience, a little luck and an idea on the geology of the area you are looking at in order to find dinosaur fossils. So, it may be just a matter of time before someone discovers a form which would later be named Tyrannosaurus philippinensis!

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Marietta M. de Leon, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor of Geology at the National Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. She is a micropaleontologist and a biostratigrapher. Prior to joining the UP faculty, she was connected with the Philippine National Oil Co., Department of Energy and Robertson Research Singapore Pvt Ltd.