Now Reading: Asteroid wiped out tree birds, ground dwellers survived: study
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Asteroid wiped out tree birds, ground dwellers survived: study
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…
The Story in Brief
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.
The Indian Opinion
Some narratives paint this as a simple story of ground birds triumphing over tree birds. In reality, the study shows a complex cascade: global forest collapse, not just asteroid impact, drove the survival filter. The real test is how quickly forests recovered. Until we find more fossils from the critical 1,000 years post-impact, the genomic timeline remains an inference, not a settled fact.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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