![]() The death of the dinosaurs heralded the rise of mammals, leading to the evolution of an intelligent hairless ape, that’s us in case you missed it! However our distant ancestors were not the only animals that survived that impact. The dust and debris generated by the meteor impact caused the atmosphere to blackout the sunlight resulting in the die-off of terrestrial plant life and extreme cold conditions. Here they could still find roots, insects, and other means of nourishment to survive. Small mammals and reptiles could survive the initial firestorm that enveloped the earth by moving underground. Those animals that were not killed by the initial impact and resultant shock wave and fire would have died during the cold and the darkness that followed. The 11-kilometer wide meteor that struck the earth 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs and large surface-dwelling animals within a very short space of time. Why Did Snakes Survive and Dinosaurs Die?. T he earliest common ancestor likely lived on land, and later descendants migrated to live in the oceans. Today there are more than 3,400 different species of snakes living in widely varying habitats on land and in the sea. It is thought that the split between snakes and dinosaurs happened early in the Cretaceous period (145 to 66 million years ago).Įvolutionary Biologists are still at odds about whether the snakes evolved on land or in the oceans. Life first evolved in the oceans before some creatures crawled out of the water to continue their evolution on land. It is thought that snakes evolved from lizards that lived on land and in the oceans and first lost their front legs before losing their back legs to resemble the snakes we know today. Dinosaurs are considered to be reptiles along with other cousins of the reptile family, such as turtles, crocodiles, lizards, and snakes. It appears just like the rest of the animal kingdom, reptiles, lizards, birds and mammals they were keeping their heads down (much easier for a snake) until the dinosaurs punched their clock! Are Snakes Descendants Of Dinosaurs?īirds are the closest ancestors of the dinosaurs, but there are many other animals still alive today that can trace their evolution back to the dinosaurs. So although it seems they thrived after the extinction of the dinosaurs, they certainly were around during their time. They have so far been found in England, Portugal and the USA. this makes them potentially 60 million years older than the previous oldest snakes known to have lived on Earth. The oldest snake fossil discovered so far, Parviraptor estesi, dates back to around 167 million years ago, during the Late cretaceous Period. When was the First snakeĪs we mentioned above Snakes fossils are much less common, even ones from much less time ago than dinosaurs due to being much more fragile than other animals. It is easy to forget with the focus on dinosaurs that there were many other species alive at the same time, of which snakes were just one. ![]() Fossils of snakes with dinosaur remains have been discovered in Indian and fossilized snakes have been dated to the late Jurassic – Early cretaceous periods, putting them firmly in the age of the dinosaurs. ![]() There is clear evidence that snakes and dinosaurs did co-exist in the same areas and at the same time. From the difference in numbers of fossils it is apparent that snakes were not the dominant life at the time. Did Snakes and Dinosaurs live at the same timeĪlthough Nothing the size of titanoboa has been found (yet) there is increasing evidence of snake and dinosaurs living together and interacting.
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