A new study has revealed that our human ancestors walked the Earth at the same time as humans. dinosaurs. According to researchers, placental mammals, a group that includes humans, dogs and bats, coexisted with dinosaurs before their extinction.
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The research, which involved the analysis of fossils, indicated that up to 21.3% of the families of mammals placentals can be traced back to the Cretaceous period. In addition, it was found that primates, a group that includes the human lineage, as well as lagomorphs (rabbits and hares) and carnivores (dogs and cats), evolved shortly before the mass extinction.
After the devastating asteroid impact, placental mammals diversified rapidly, with that the loss of competition with dinosaurs may have driven this rapid process of diversification.
Emily Carlisle, lead author of the study and a researcher at the School of Earth Sciences at University of Bristol, explained that the study involved analyzing thousands of mammalian fossils. placental. This analysis made it possible to observe the patterns of origin and extinction of the different groups, making it possible to estimate when they evolved.
The model used for this calculation was based on the first appearances of groups in the fossil record and on the pattern of species diversity over time. This approach also made it possible to estimate extinction dates based on the last appearances of groups before extinction.
This discovery not only proves the coexistence of placental mammals with dinosaurs, but may also help to understand other mass extinctions. The researchers believe that analyzing the origins and extinctions of different groups of mammals can shed light on light on events such as the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM).
Although there have been debates among researchers about the presence of placental mammals alongside dinosaurs before the great extinction, fossils of these animals were found only in rocks less than 66 million years old. That's the estimated age of the asteroid impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Interestingly, the molecular data suggest a more ancient origin for these mammals.
