Study Reveals Mammals Transitioned to Ground-Based Living Before Dinosaur Extinction

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

More mammals were living on the ground several million years before the mass extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs, new research has revealed.

When the Dino-Killing Asteroid Hit, Mammals Were Already on the Move

Researchers suggest that ground-based mammals fared better than their arboreal relatives during the end-Cretaceous extinction thanks to their lifestyle.

When the Dinos Died, Mammals Were Already Adopting Terrestrial Lifestyles

Learn more about the mammalian transition from arboreal to terrestrial life, which began millions of years before the arrival of the asteroid that devastated the dinosaurs.

Flowering plants, not dinosaurs, drove mammals to ground 72 million years ago

Professor Janis said, "The vegetational habitat was more important for the course of Cretaceous mammalian evolution than any influence from dinosaurs."

Tiny Fossils Reveal Mammals Left the Trees Long Before the Asteroid Impact

Millions of years before the asteroid impact that ended the reign of the dinosaurs, mammals were already beginning to shift from tree-dwelling to ground-based lifestyles. A groundbreaking study uncovered this evolutionary trend by analyzing tiny limb bone fragments from marsupials and placental mammals in Western North America. These subtle fossil clues reveal that mammals may [...]

Mammals moved to land before dinosaurs were wiped out by asteroid

The researchers focused on bone articular fragments from therian mammals, a group that includes modern marsupials and placentals.