(July 6, 2013 at 11:42 pm)Oliver1990 Wrote: If an Asteroid wiped out the Dinosaurs how did Evolution continue?
I think I'm missing something out as I'm pretty new to reading about Evolution in detail. I've watched a few programs and books and this is how its usually depicted:
Evolution started from Bacteria.
Bacteria -> Fish -> Amphibians etc...
Asteroid happens killing the Dinosaurs.
Amphibians continue to Evolve.
So my question is, if the Asteroid wiped out the Dinosaurs, wouldn't it of wiped out the Amphibians and everything else too?
I realise there are other theories such as Volcanos & Ice Aces but wouldn't this have the same effect too?
I know the majority of Scientists believe it was an Asteroid, but I just struggle to figure out how Evolution continued to happen if everything was wiped out?
I'm probably missing something stupid but any enlightenment would be great.
Thanks!
Evolution can happen because different species, and different individuals within a specie, have different degree of fitness when faced with the same survival challenges. If that were not the case, there would be no evolution.
It so happens that land dwelling dinosaurs were unfit to survive the conditions that prevailed around the time of chicxulub asteroid impact. A minority of flying dinosaurs (known as birds) was fit to survive it. This is why we raise parrots but do not run from modern day velociraptors, even though the ancestors of the parrots were close relatives of velociraptors.
As it happens, large fraction of species of mammals and amphibians that lived in the shadow of dinosaurs were also unfit to survive the same impact. Only feaction of the species of these two groups could match the flying dinosaurs and survive. That's why the typical mammals and amphibians living today don't much resemble the collection of mammal and amphibians alive when tyrannosaurs were around.
Is this clear? Major calamities like giant vulcanos, asteriods, and republicans wipe out a large number of species. But the species that die out tend to have some common property that makes them particularly vulnerable to the specific calamity in question. Animals that survive would be ones who lack the fatal property.
