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.
More abundant, due to the fact that previously-occupied environmental niches opened up.
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 the Mesozoic Era, most mammals were small, nocturnal, and likely insectivorous. They were overshadowed by larger reptiles like dinosaurs and did not become the dominant group of animals until after the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic.
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.
7 foot tall carnivorous flightless birds
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 ;)
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.
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.
The trilobites went extinct during the mass extinction at the end of the Permian period.
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.
No, turtles,crocodiles, snakes and some plants survived the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
There was no one dominant species throughout the Cenozoic, as it was a period of time that stretched from the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago to the present day, with many changes in climate that would hinder the ability of any one species to be dominant. However, it is perfectly sensible to say that mammals were dominant since the start of the Cenozoic. Mammals at the time of the dinosaurs (the Jurassic and Cretaceous, mostly) were mostly very small scavengers and herbivores. The extraterrestrial impact and flood basalt outpourings that killed the dinosaurs and many other species left mostly animals under 10kg in weight - chief among them the mammals. With no larger predators to kill them, the mammals took the evolutionary opportunity and flourished, leading us to become the dominant species we are today.