'Dinosaurs were going strong, with stable ecosystems, right until the asteroid suddenly killed them off.'
progressed, the research showed that these mammals were changing their diets, adjusting to their habitats, and playing a bigger role in ecosystems.The dinosaurs, on the other hand, were firmly established in ecological niches to which they were remarkably well adapted. According to researchers, mammals didn't only benefit from the demise of dinosaurs. By diversifying, they were developing benefits for themselves.
"Dinosaurs were going strong, with stable ecosystems, right until the asteroid suddenly killed them off. Meanwhile, mammals were diversifying their diets, ecologies, and behaviors while dinosaurs were still alive," said Prof. Steve Brusatte, senior author and Personal Chair of Paleontology and Evolution, School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh.
"So it wasn't simply that mammals took advantage of the dinosaurs dying, but they were making their own advantages, which ecologically preadapted them to survive the extinction and move into niches left vacant by the dead dinosaurs."It has long been debated why groups such as non-avian dinosaurs became extinct, whereas mammals and other lineages survived the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago.
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