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Why did mammals become more or less abundant after the extinction of the dinosaurs?
Wiki User
∙ 10y ago
The most likely answer is that, if a meteor really did hit the earth, burrowing mammals were hiding in the crust of the Earth, and were unaffected by most of the effects, like the clouds in the sky, and the momentous impact. As most of their food lay undeground,they had no need to leave. Eventually, they left the burrows to find a world mostly clear of dinosaurs, and were able to assert some control.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 10y agoIt's mostly a matter of niches and incumbency. An ecosystem has certain roles for animals to fill and like successful candidates for good jobs, the dinosaurs won most of them. From their favored positions, the dinosaurs (and the non-dinosaur Mesozoic reptiles, such as the flying reptiles and the sea reptiles) specialized and grew large while the mammals remained small and primitive.
They were thus in favor for over a hundred million years, but the problem with being big (there are lots of advantages, so be sure) is that there can't be a whole lot of you, while the problem with specialization is that it's hard to suddenly specialize in something else.
When the great catastrophe (probably the Alvarez meteorite) came, the dinosaurs' highly organized world was thrown into chaos but the mammals. of which they were a great number, were well positioned to start diversifying and working their way into the old -- now vacant -- positions.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoDue to their advanced characters eg better teeth , brain fast locomotion etc .
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Why mammals became more or less abundant after the extinction of the dinosaurs and why?
More abundant, due to the fact that previously-occupied environmental niches opened up.
Did the cretaceous or permian extinction cause dinosaurs to become extinct?
No, as there was no Cretaceous-Permian extinction. There was the Permian-Triassic extinction, which ocurred before the dinosaurs appeared. Non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out in the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction.
During which era did mammals become common?
Mammals became the dominant land animals in the early Paleocene period of the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era.
When did the Allosaurus become extinct and what caused its extinction?
Nobody really knows how dinosaurs got extinct.
What organisms were able to become dominant on the Earth after the extinction of the dinosaurs?
7 foot tall carnivorous flightless birds
When did mammals become dominant?
Millions of Years Ago65 + Cenozoic Tertiary Paleocene Mammals become abundant| . . . after extinction of| . . . dinosaurs and large| . . . reptiles; by the| beginning of the Eocene60 + rodents and primates| have evolved|||55 +| Eocene Mammals dominant:| . rodents, artiodactyls,| . carnivores, perisso-| . dactyls (including50 + horses); whales make| their first appearance1 MILLION THE REST IS FALSE ;)
Why is the Cenozoic era is called the age of mammals?
The Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to now) is known as the age of the mammals because this is the period where mammals came to dominate most environments on Earth. Although true mammals evolved in the late Triassic Period about 200 million years ago but where generally thought to be small and most certainly overshadowed by Reptiles such as Dinosaurs. When the Dinosaurs and most other large reptiles died out 65 million years ago, mammals started to become more dominant filling the ecological niches that where filled by large reptiles. Likewise Angiosperms (flowering plants) also shared similar fortunes. Many environments. There was a marked shift from Gymnosperms such as ferns and cycads to flowering plants.
Is dinosaur a mammal?
No. In fact, dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds. Mammals separated from reptiles (a large group that still included what would become dinosaurs) about 300 million years ago, and birds evolved during the Jurassic period about 150 million years ago.
Why did trilobites become extinct?
The trilobites went extinct during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period.
Why did the Archaeopteryx become extinct?
The cause of the extinction of Archaeopteryx is unknown to archaeologists. Their bones have been discovered since the 1860s and they appear to be easy prey for large dinosaurs.
What living things happen in the Cretaceous period Did turtles and crocodiles become extinct .?
No, turtles,crocodiles, snakes and some plants survived the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
When did dinosaurs disappear from earth?
It is impossible to fix the dinosaurs' extinction to a specific year for several reasons:There were no intelligent animals alive at the time of the dinosaurs, and so there were no calendars and no record keeping.Even though dinosaurs are thought to have become extinct due to a single cataclysmic event, the actual extinction process itself likely took place over several years, decades, or even centuries.Even if the extinction was confined to a single year, there is currently no means to date the extinction event that precisely.
