A study published in late June says that some of our earliest known ancestors likely walked among the dinosaurs.
An in-depth analysis of various records and data from shortly before the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event — caused by the Chicxulub asteroid impact — found supporting evidence that placental mammals (i.e.: the ancestors of humans, dogs, bats, etc) existed at the same time as the dinosaurs. Definitive fossil records from before the K-Pg event are almost non-existent, so the team used molecular clock analysis to estimate the short cross-over between our ancestors.
In layman’s terms, stuff can’t just pop-up out of nowhere, so clearly placental mammals had to exist prior to the extinction event so as to take over in a post-dinosaur world.
If The Largest Asteroid Near Earth Hit Us, Here’s What It Would Look Like | @DailyCaller
It would look like we all died. https://t.co/8V53OR1MFp
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“The model we used estimates origination ages based on when lineages first appear in the fossil record and the pattern of species diversity through time for the lineage. It can also estimate extinction ages based on the last appearances when the group is extinct,” study co-author Daniele Silvestro told The Weather Channel.
While the results are a definitive “yes” in the debate about whether mammals and dinosaurs ruled the Earth together, it certainly lends to the growing body of evidence that history is very much not what we have assumed it to be. (RELATED: Remains Of Dinosaurs Killed The Day Massive Asteroid Hit Earth Discovered, Scientists Say)
Most modern discoveries keep pushing back the clock on our technological development, but this one took it a step further. And how cool is it to think that the creatures we may have evolved from were here during the cataclysm that turned dinosaurs to chickens? Very, in my opinion.