# Asteroid wiped out tree birds, ground dwellers survived: study

2026-08-08T13:01:18+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 1 independent outlet

An asteroid 10 km wide struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, wiping out non-avian dinosaurs and nearly all tree-dwelling birds. A study led by palaeontologist Daniel Field, published in Current Biology, found that birds relying on trees for survival disappeared, while ground-dwelling species with sturdy legs survived the global forest collapse triggered by wildfires and years of darkness. Only a handful of ground-dwelling lineages survived, becoming ancestors of today's 11,000 bird species. Subsequent genomic research in Science Advances suggests the extinction accelerated bird genome evolution. However, direct fossil evidence from this period remains scarce because early birds were small and fragile.

## Coverage

- timesofindia.indiatimes.com <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-nearly-wiped-out-birds-too-leaving-only-a-few-ground-dwelling-survivors/articleshow/133048645.cms>

Tags: asteroid strike, bird evolution, Chicxulub, Daniel Field, mass extinction, palaeontology
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