The study was carried out by collaborators from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oulu and the University
Experts studied 1,600 fossils from the NorthernAmerica. They modeled the food chains and biological habitats of animals that lived on land and in fresh water during the last few million years of the Cretaceous and the first few million years of the Paleogene.
As a result, they managed to uncover “one of the centuries-oldmysteries of paleontology: why all dinosaurs, except bird-like ones, became extinct, while birds and mammals survived,” the scientists write. It turned out that they lived in too ideal conditions. Dinosaurs were strong, lived in stable ecosystems, and their diet did not change. As a result, they simply could not adapt. Mammals took advantage of this.
“Mammals didn’t just take advantage of the death of dinosaurs, they adapted to survive the extinction and take someone else’s place in the ecosystem,” the scientists conclude.
The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
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