TIME

Dinosaur Extinction

≈ 66 million years ago

Illustration of the end-Cretaceous impact: a blazing asteroid streaks across a golden sunset sky above a long-necked sauropod and a Triceratops standing by a calm shore.

Earth & LifeDinosaur Extinction

Non-avian dinosaurs die out.

An asteroid impact ended the non-avian dinosaurs and many other forms of life. Birds survived and are living dinosaurs today.

A thin iridium-rich clay layer marks the boundary worldwide. The Chicxulub crater in Mexico has the same age. Volcanism may also have played a part.

66 million years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.

Era
Earth & Life
Period
≈ 66 million years ago
Edition
1/1
Status
Not Released
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Background artwork

An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the asteroid impact that ended the age of the dinosaurs. The animals are representative of the Late Cretaceous, and the scene is an interpretation.