How did Chicxulub kill all the dinosaurs, yet leave behind other species?
In: Planetary Science
It killed almost everything, dinosaur or not. It’s not like thousands of species of non-avian dinosaur died while thousands of other species lived. The surviving types of non-aquatic amniotes consisted of about 3 birds, 12 reptiles, and 5 mammals. The tens of thousands that exist today all evolved from those 20.
All 20 survivors could plausibly be described as “small animal that lives underground and eats insects”—that was *the* niche that remained viable. *No* large land animals survived (they must have been too dependent on the existence of a healthy ecosystem). *No* surface-dwelling animals survived (surface temperatures may have gotten up to around 500°F for a couple of hours in there). *No* herbivores survived (it may have taken a couple of years for the dust to clear enough to allow sunlight to reach the surface again and plants to start coming back).
Latest Answers