Despite what some people might be tempted to believe, our world is far from being a friendly place. We have to admit that, whether we like it or not. There were several extinction events during the history of our planet, and scientists from the US found out about another one.
Two-thirds of the peak diversity of mammals from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula disappeared 30 million years ago, according to a new study that ScienceAlert.com tells us about.
It’s unknown what exactly happened
Steven Heritage, a biologist from Duke University, declared as quoted by ScienceAlert.com:
It’s very clear that there was a huge extinction event, and then a recovery period.
There was a shifting climate at the transition from the Eocene to the next epoch, meaning the Oligocene. Clues on fluctuating sea levels and glacier growth-related evidence bring more info about how the planet was changing.
Dorien de Vries, the lead author from the University of Salford, declared as also cited by ScienceAlert.com:
We see a huge loss in tooth diversity, and then a recovery period with new dental shapes and new adaptations.
The dinosaurs’ extinction from roughly 60 million years ago was also another major event in Earth’s history, and a lot of scientific work was made on the subject. However, a recent study shows that the Chicxulub impactor might have arrived too late for the extinction itself, which is contrary to popular belief. There was a total of over 700 species of dinosaurs that went extinct, and their ancestors from nowadays are considered some of the birds.
Extinction is a harsh but also a realistic concept, and some species that live on Earth nowadays are in such danger as well. A good example is represented by coral reefs.
The new study was published in Communications Biology.
