All articles tagged with #cretaceous paleogene extinction
Cenozoic is Earth's current geologic era, beginning about 66 million years ago after the asteroid impact that wiped out nonavian dinosaurs. It’s known as the Age of Mammals and has seen mammals diversify and rise to prominence, the appearance of plants like cacti, whales, and major landscape changes such as the formation of the Grand Canyon.
A new study reveals that night lizards survived the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, making them the only known land vertebrates to have persisted near the impact site and still live today, likely due to their slow metabolisms and specialized habitats.
Ancient fossils reveal that during the 66 million-year-old asteroid-induced mass extinction, most bivalve species survived despite losing many, and their ecological roles persisted, though the ocean's biodiversity landscape was forever altered. The study highlights how ecosystems recover unpredictably after mass extinctions, offering lessons for current biodiversity crises driven by human activity.