In ancient times, many creatures on land and in water chose to evolve with size getting bigger and bigger to avoid becoming “prey” as well as survive more effectively with abundant food sources.
Recent research from archaeologists confirms that reptiles Sea creatures shaped like fish have grown to enormous sizes in a period of just 2.5 million years. By comparison, it took whales about 90% of their 55 million year history to reach the enormous size that ichthyosaurs (a subfamily of marine reptiles) did.
Ichthyosaurs evolved much faster than whales at a time when the world was recovering from the devastating extinction at the end of the Permian period,” said Lars Schmitz, a senior researcher at Scripps College.
It is a good ray of hope and a sign of the resilience of life – if environmental conditions are suitable, evolution can take place very quickly and life can recover.
Researchers first noticed the fossil of an ancient ichthyosaur discovered in 1998 in the Augusta Mountains of northwestern Nevada (USA).
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But it was not until 2015 that with the help of specialized helicopters, they were able to excavate all remaining fossils including the shoulder skull… and transport it to the History Museum. Natural Los Angeles where it was analyzed.
According to a study published on December 23 in the journal Science, the group named this new species Cymbospondylus youngorum (C. youngorum).
They belong to the subfamily of large-jawed marine reptiles that lived 247 million years ago in the Triassic period with elongated bodies and limbs that changed into fins and a tail.</p >
There were many giant animals that lived during the age of dinosaurs, but C. youngorum stands out for a number of reasons. Typically, they are rare large creatures that survived about 5 million years after the mass extinction event 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period that killed about 90% of species on Earth.< /p>
According to research, it took about 9 million years for life on Earth to recover after the above extinction event. However, somehow C. youngorum still survives and thrives.
One hypothesis is that there was an explosion of diversification of marine molluscs called ammonoids within 1 million – 3 million years after the extinction event took place.
These species became the food source for C. youngorum as well as modern whales. grand. However, the way they evolve and develop is different.
New fossils show impressive evolution with giant size in ichthyosaurs. In contrast, whales seem to follow a similar pattern. Another path to get to their current size but not as fast” Schmitz assessed.
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