Human ancestors survived the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, archeological analysis shows

The Cretaceous origin of mammals, a group that includes humans, dogs and bats, has been revealed by a detailed analysis of the history, showing that they coexisted with the dinosaurs for a short time before the extinction of the dinosaurs.

A catastrophic event caused by an asteroid that hit Earth caused the death of all non-avian dinosaurs in an event known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction. There has been debate among researchers as to whether mammals existed alongside the dinosaurs before they went extinct, or whether they evolved only after the dinosaurs went extinct.

Early mammals are found in rocks less than 66 million years old, when an asteroid hit Earth, suggesting that the group evolved after the Great Extinction. However, molecular studies have for many years shown the aging process in mammals.

In a new paper published in the journal Modern Biology, a team of paleontologists from the University of Bristol and the University of Friborg used quantitative analysis of the fossil record to determine that mammals became extinct, meaning that they coexisted with the dinosaurs for a short period of time. However, it was after the impact of the asteroid that the modern generations of mammals began to evolve, meaning that they were able to diversify after the dinosaurs were gone.

The researchers collected fossil data from placental animal groups dating back to 66 million years ago.

Co-author Emily Carlisle of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “We collected thousands of different gastropods and were able to see how different groups started and ended. ”

Another author Daniele Silvestro (University of Fribourg) explained: “The model we used compares the age of the beginning based on the time when the lines of fossils began to appear and how different species lived during the line. the last appearance when the group has disappeared.”

Co-author Professor Phil Donoghue, also from Bristol, added, “By examining both the start and end, we can clearly see the effects of events such as the K-Pg end or the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).”

Primates, a group that includes the human lineage, as well as Lagomorpha (rabbits and rabbits) and Carnivora (dogs and cats) were shown to have evolved shortly before the end of the K-Pg, which means that their ancestors were mixed with dinosaurs. When they survived the impact of space, the stomach mammals diverged quickly, probably due to the end of the race of dinosaurs.