News Item - Dino Flatulence did them in...

[Richard W Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu>]

We're not making this up.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_855000/855813.stm
 Friday, 28 July, 2000, 16:04 GMT 17:04 UK 
 Ill wind killed dinosaurs

 Dinosaurs were not wiped out by a meteorite
 or a planetary catastrophe but by a serious
 flatulence problem, according to a Chinese
 news report. 

 Dinosaur wind contained a high proportion of
 methane gas - powerful enough to penetrate
 the ozone layer, said the China Youth Daily
 quoting a French scientist. 

 "The animals, weighing from 80 to 100 tonnes,
 would eat on average between 130 and 260
 kilos of food every day. They would fart
 non-stop," said the traditionally austere paper.
 
 During the dinosaurs' time on earth "the
 atmosphere became charged with methane,
 which finally damaged the ozone layer and
 brought about great changes in the
 vegetation," it added.   

 The changes caused a food shortage which
 eventually wiped them out. 
 ...
 China Youth Daily did not identify the French
 scientist behind the latest theory. 


I'm speechless.