Animals Survive Near the Meteorite That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs

Despite living very close to the meteorite that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, the nocturnal lizard has survived to this day, according to new research.

Xantusia is one of three genera of nocturnal lizards in the family Xantusiidae - Photo: WIKIPEDIA

According to LiveScience on June 25, the collision of a meteorite about 12km wide at the end of the Cretaceous period (145 - 66 million years ago) caused about 75% of species on Earth at that time to become extinct.

However, two lines of night lizards managed to survive the disaster, even though they lived close enough to feel the impact of the collision.

“They were around the impact edge of the asteroid,” said Chase Brownstein, lead author of the study and a researcher at Yale University.

While it's unclear how they survived the disaster, the researchers note that night lizards have slow metabolisms and don't need to eat frequently.

Brownstein and his colleagues reconstructed the ancestors of three genera of nocturnal lizards alive today (Lepidophyma, Xantusia, and Cricosaura). They used molecular clock dating to estimate when nocturnal lizards evolved based on the mutations and mutation rates that occurred in their DNA over time.

The team discovered that the most recent common ancestor of today's night lizards appeared about 90 million years ago and has lived in North and Central America ever since, before the asteroid hit Earth about 66 million years ago.

This discovery suggests that two lineages of nocturnal lizards survived the collision. One of these lineages would later give rise to Xantusia, which ranges from the American southwest to Mexico, and Lepidophyma, which ranges across parts of North America and Central America. The second lineage of nocturnal lizards would later give rise to Cricosaura, which now lives in Cuba.

Nocturnal lizards were not the only animals to survive the mass extinction event. Ornithischians (birds), fish, and many other animals also survived. However, nocturnal lizards are the only surviving group of terrestrial vertebrates known to have been endemic to North and Central America since the impact.

The study was published in the journal Biology Letters .

ANH THU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/loai-vat-van-song-sot-du-o-gan-noi-thien-thach-roi-xuong-xoa-so-khung-long-20250625093513174.htm