DINO DIE-OFF WAS BOOM AND DOOM.

DINOSAURS weren't in decline before an asteroid wiped most of them out 66 million years ago as previously suggested.

- BY STEPHEN BEECH

The idea that they were already dwindling in number before the devastating asteroid strike may be explained by a lack of fossils from that time, according to a new study.

The research was led by scientists at University College London.

It analysed the fossil record of North America over 18 million years up to the asteroid impact at the end of the Cretaceous period, 66 and 84 million years ago.