Ancient mammals not wiped out by asteroids, that’s why

KOMPAS.com – The most of dinosaur die when asteroid hit the Earth 66 million years ago, but not with mammals who apparently survived after the event.

A new study shows that ancient mammals were better adapted than dinosaurs, helping them survive the catastrophe and thrive in its aftermath.

This conclusion was reached after researchers mapped the complex interactions between large numbers of ancient animals and their ecosystems before and after the asteroid hit Earth.

Reported by live science, Thursday’s (8/12/2022) modeling combines data from fossils collected in western North America whose ages span the boundary between the Late Cretaceous (145 million to 66 million years ago) and Early Paleogene (66 million to 23 million years ago).

These 1,600 fossil records represent more than 470 animal genera, including mammals, fish, crocodilians, birds, and non-avian dinosaurs.

Read also: The first mammals were small and short-lived

“From these models, we were able to determine that freshwater organisms and small terrestrial organisms, including mammals, were more resilient and better prepared to face extinction than non-avian dinosaurs,” said Thomas Cullen, of Carleton University in Ottawa, who was not involved in the study. she studies. ancient mammalian adaptations which is not destroyed by asteroids.

Furthermore, ancient mammals even diversified before the asteroid impact occurred.

This evolution resulted in mammals that could eat a wide variety of foods, live in a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions, and produce offspring fast enough to recover from a sudden population collapse.

Scientists previously thought that the explosion in mammalian evolution following the demise of the dinosaurs would eventually leave a gap in the ecosystem that could be filled by them.

But the new study points to growing evidence that ancient mammals were already expanding into new niches before the asteroid impact.

Read also: After the extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals grow in body size to survive