[Timwi]

I dislike that these articles always refer to the dinosaurs and their “extinction” or “demise” or similar terms. The clade of dinosaurs is not extinct. Birds are dinosaurs. People need to know this.

They should just talk about the extinction of the pterosaurs instead. Not only would it be accurate, it would also implicitly teach that not everything alive then was a dinosaur, including the famous pterodactyl.

[caymanjim]

I think most people who care know that birds are dinosaurs. What purpose does being pedantic serve? Is there a single word term that more effectively describes all the large fauna that went extinct as a result of the Chicxulub impact (without delving into further pedantry around that)?

Words are a convenient shortcut and most people know what's meant by "dinosaurs".

[LoveMortuus]

Because the complete truth matters.

When I was younger, I thought that pretty much all of the developed creatures died at that point and that the whole evolution from single-celled to multicellular creatures got reset and restarted. Which of course isn't true.

I think we should always try to be as accurate as we can, because facts already get distorted my time, thus there no need to distort them before they even meet time.

I believe truth and accuracy is important. But because many many people don't, we now have a saying: "History is written by the victors." Meaning history is distorted.

[alpaca128]

I've never seen a resource about the extinction that didn't also mention some species surviving, including children's books.

[bostonsre]

I think highlighting that link can give more people a better long term view of earth and having that longer term view of earth can make people care more about being better sheppards to our planet. Some people view dinosaurs in a really disconnected way and their link to now can be hard to comprehend. Highlighting the link between dinosaurs and birds can help show how amazingly old and connected our home is by giving people a glimpse of how incredible evolution is and how fleeting life is.

[slipframe]

Kids who like dinosaurs tend to appreciate the pedantry. Isn't that reason enough?

[vmception]

People already know that, what are you talking about

[Tagbert]

People who want to make that distinction often describe the KT event as “extinction of non-avian dinosaurs”. It still glosses over the fact that the extinction impacts many other life forms that it hits the high notes while getting across the idea that birds are still dinosaurs.