The ancestors of crocodiles, dinosaurs and winged pterosaurs all descended from a common ancestor. “This is the first time that we have been able to show that all the major groups of dinosaurs are related to each other,” said study co-author David Evans, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
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Is a crocodile a reptile or a dinosaur?
Dinosaurs are a larger group of reptiles that first appeared about 251 million years ago. Archosaurs, including pterosaurs and modern birds, are some of the non-dinosaur reptiles.
Did alligators live during dinosaurs?
These sizeable reptiles survived–even though other large reptiles did not. The dinosaurs were the only ones to survive the mass extinction event 65 million years ago. Frogs and salamanders survived the extinction that wiped out 90 percent of life on Earth.
All mammals, including humans, are descended from a single group of animals that lived in the Cretaceous period, 65 to 65.5 Ma. The extinction of the dinosaurs was the most devastating event in Earth’s history. It was followed by the asteroid impact that created the moon and the formation of our solar system.
Why did dinosaurs go extinct but not crocodiles?
When the dinosaurs went extinct, they lived in places that were the least affected. Crocodiles have been around for at least 65 million years, so they have had plenty of time to adapt to their new environment. They have adapted to living in water, for example, and they are able to survive in salt water.
What was on Earth before dinosaurs?
The age prior to the dinosaurs was called the Permian. This event is known as the K-T extinction, named after the asteroid that caused it. The asteroid hit the Earth at a time when the oceans were at their lowest levels in millions of years.
As a result, all the water on the planet evaporated and the land was covered in a thick layer of ice. It took a few million years for the ice to thaw, but it was too late to stop the mass extinction.
All the animals that had lived on land died out, leaving behind only a handful of species that were able to adapt to their new environment. Some of these adaptations included the ability to walk on two legs, which allowed them to survive the harsh conditions of a new land. Others, like the duck-billed platypus, were adapted to live in water.
What animal is closest to a dinosaur?
Birds are thought to be the only animals around today that are direct descendants of dinosaurs. Next time you visit a farm, take a moment to think about it. The most incredible predator the world has ever known is actually the closest living relative to the squawking chickens.
