LONDON, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Dinosaurs may have died out sooner than previously thought when an asteroid blamed for their extinction hit Earth 65 million years ago.
U.S. and Chinese researchers wrote dinosaur egg fragments from rocks in China dated after the event may actually be from egg pieces mixed in the rubble and mud flows, and not from dinosaurs that survived the crash, BBC News Online said.
After examining ancient soils in China, the researchers suggested egg fragments from dinosaurs may have been swept up by mud flows several millions of years later and deposited among more recent animal and plant material.
As a result, some dinosaurs may have been incorrectly dated as living in a later age -- 62 million years ago instead of 65 million.
Previous research had suggested some dinosaurs lived millions of years after the asteroid struck the earth.
