I never learned much about evolution, so please do explain it like I’m 5
In: Biology
Partially because the conditions under which dinosaurs evolved in the first place no longer existed. The weather, plant and animal life, even the oxygen content of the atmosphere changed over the last 65 million years.
When dinosaurs evolved, there wasn’t much competition for food and space on land, so they filled the ecological niches and took up a lot of the resources. So, when most dinosaurs went extinct, they left a large gap in the ecosystem and other animals, particularly mammals, quickly filled that niche. Suddenly there was a lot of competition for food and resources, and so it was a completely different world than the one where dinosaurs first evolved.
But remember, not all dinosaurs went extinct. Some had evolved into birds about 150 mil years ago and those thrived in the new post-extinction world. Ancestors of dinosaurs are still pooping on your car, even today.
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