How Long Can Modern Humans Survive in the Jurassic Period?

The Jurassic period is a geological era in the long history of the earth. In the vicissitudes of life since the birth of the earth, it is just a period of history that does not take up a lot of space. However, the Jurassic is so famous that many people directly use it to refer to the entire Mesozoic era when dinosaurs dominated the earth. When it comes to the age of dinosaurs, most people only think of the Jurassic, but few people think of the pre-Jurassic period. Cretaceous period after Triassic and Jurassic. So if there is a “gate of time and space”, how long can modern people live if they are thrown into the real Jurassic Earth?

Atmospheric Environment
In the series of movies “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World”, human beings may fight wits and courage with meat-eating dinosaurs on Nubra Island, where the security equipment has failed due to storm attacks and the dangers are full of dangers. Nubra Park sits in a ball cable car and lives in harmony with the Mesozoic giants. This is because this island is a corner of the earth today except for some prehistoric animals, so the climate is no different from the present, which will not let modern humans any discomfort.

But in the real Jurassic, it’s not like that at all.

During most of the Jurassic period, the oxygen concentration was higher than it is now, which is an oxygen-rich environment. Changes in the concentration of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can affect the human body. People who have lived on the plateau for a long time will experience symptoms of oxygen intoxication when they come to low-altitude areas; I don’t know if modern humans living under ordinary oxygen concentrations suddenly arrived in the Jurassic period with higher oxygen concentrations, would they be intoxicated with oxygen?

Look again at carbon dioxide. Throughout the Jurassic period, the concentration of carbon dioxide was at a relatively high level. Although this concentration of carbon dioxide has little effect on the human body, it may make people’s thinking level decline.

In addition, the temperature of the earth during the Jurassic period was generally higher than it is now, the cold zone is similar to the current temperate zone, and the temperate zone is similar to the current subtropical zone, instead of the entire earth being a tropical rainforest as in science fiction movies.

Therefore, if a modern human is dropped in the Jurassic period, although changes in the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen will not have a very drastic impact on the health of this person, nor will it cause his immediate death, but it may make him change. “fool”.

Biological Threats and Food Crisis
The types of creatures in the real Jurassic period are related to the food that person can obtain and the natural enemies they face.

Impressive behemoths Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, and Giganotosaurus are the number one stars of the Jurassic series of movies, and they are the “culprits” that make people daunted by the age of dinosaurs. Fortunately, in the real Mesozoic, these three top predators only appeared in the Cretaceous period, not Jurassic species.

The guy who was thrown into the Jurassic period may be lucky enough not to encounter a theropod dinosaur with a length of more than 1 meter (dinosaurs have longer tails, and the length of the tail is not more than 1 meter, and the size is generally not very large) . But a healthy ecosystem will generally have predators, so consider whether a local top predator could be lethal to humans.

The Jurassic period was the heyday of dinosaurs. The dinosaurs that appeared and began to develop in the Triassic period quickly became the rulers of the earth. At this time, large theropod dinosaurs had appeared, such as Ceratosaurus 6 meters in length and 1 ton in weight, Allosaurus in 9 meters in length and 3 tons in weight, and even Barbarianosaurus 10 meters in length and 4 tons in weight. Although their size is far inferior to the “Big Three of the Cretaceous”, Tyrannosaurus rex, Spinosaurus, and Giganotosaurus, their deterrent power is still “crushing level” for unarmed humans.

Imagine you could fight a rhino, a hippo, an Asian elephant without any weapons? The tonnage of Allosaurus and Barbarian is comparable to these three “contemporary behemoths”, and their height and length are far higher than these three. So what happened to humans head-to-head with these two top Jurassic predators?

Even the “little” Ceratosaurus has a body length of 6 meters and a weight of 1 ton. Imagine fighting an American bison the size of a car with your bare hands. What are your chances of winning?

If there are relatively large plant-eating dinosaurs in the crossing place, there will often be carnivorous animals of comparable size or slightly smaller size. This environment is usually not suitable for human life. If the places you traverse are all small animals, then the top predator will not be too big.

In fact, even small theropod dinosaurs are dangerous to humans, so avoid them if you can!

As for food, the ecosystem during the Jurassic period is relatively similar to today. Of course, the most different places are the vegetation and dinosaurs. The plants at that time were dominated by gymnosperms and ferns. Angiosperms may exist, but you probably don’t recognize them. So what humans can eat should be the young leaves and branches of some ferns and the seeds of gymnosperms.

The source of meat depends on the individual’s ability to survive in the wild. If most healthy modern adults without wild survival skills are left in a certain position on the earth today, they probably won’t live long. Therefore, in the Jurassic period, for most people without hunting skills, they may only come to the water’s edge and the sea to pick up aquatic invertebrates to eat; of course, if you don’t dislike it, there must be many high-protein insects that can be eaten at that time ——Jurassic insects were more diverse. There were more than a thousand species of insects living in forests and near lakes and swamps. In addition to the cockroaches, dragonflies, and beetles that had appeared before, there were also grubs and tree lice. Most of these insects have continued to modern times, so those insect lovers at the night food stalls in Yunnan, Guizhou, Fujian and Guangdong can feast on their mouths when they go to the Jurassic!

People with hunting ability have a greater advantage. They can easily catch all kinds of small mammals, fish, small dinosaurs… It’s just so enjoyable!

In the novel “Robinson Crusoe”, the greatest enemy Robinson faced was actually disease. He once encountered malaria, but he finally cured himself with tobacco leaves (scientific doubt)…

It is difficult to verify whether there were bacteria or viruses that could cause human illness in the Jurassic period. After all, it is almost impossible for bacteria and viruses at that time to be preserved as fossils and passed down. However, there was a high probability that various microorganisms that could cause people to suffer from diseases existed at that time. After all, various mammals or ancestors of mammals existed at that time, and parasites might also exist. Therefore, guys who travel to that time, eat meat until it is cooked, I believe this is also necessary for civilized modern people!

All in all, how long modern people can live in the Jurassic period depends mainly on their ability to survive in the wild, hygiene habits and luck. As long as they acquire certain survival skills in the wild, they will not starve to death. If you’re not that bad, you won’t be killed by a large carnivorous dinosaur or an unknown plague. Once the above three conditions are met, I believe that there is no problem in living until the “end of life” or “reopening of the gate of time and space”!