- Helen Briggs
- BBC Science and Environmental Affairs Correspondent
Image source,Getty Images
Snakes are now found on all continents of the world except Antarctica
A recent British natural science study found that the reason why modern snakes can successfully survive and multiply all over the world must be thanks to the alien object—meteorite that hit the earth 66 million years ago and exterminated most species, including dinosaurs.
Scientists said that at that time, when most of the earth’s species were facing extinction, a few types of snake species could live underground, dormant for a long time and endure hunger and thirst, and finally had the opportunity to evolve into more than 3,000 species today. Snakes of the world.
Geological archaeological evidence shows that at the turn of the Cretaceous and Paleogene about 66-65 million years ago, a meteorite struck near the Gulf of Mexico in North America today, triggering major earthquakes, giant tsunamis and wildfires that spread almost all over the world. It is a dark day with dust covering the sky and the sun, which lasts for decades.
Studies have shown that 76% of the earth’s animal and plant species were extinct at that time. However, in the mass extinction of the earth’s species, a small number of mammals, birds, small amphibians, reptiles and fish survived all odds and began to multiply and expand after the disaster.
Image source, Joshua Knuppe
The artist’s imaginary drawing of how ancient snakes survived based on the results of scientific research
Cataclysm to Lucky Star
Dr Catherine Klein, who led the above research at the University of Bath in the UK, said: “In the environment where the food chain collapsed, some snakes not only survived but thrived, and began to expand to other continents. And the continent, adapt to the new environment there.”
“Without the help of meteorite impacts, the living space of snakes is unlikely to expand to where it is today.”
According to reports, when the meteorite hit Mexico, there was little difference between ancient snakes and modern snakes. They also depended on crawling and devouring prey to survive. However, the snakes that survived at that time possessed specialties that most other species did not, such as being able to eat or drink for as long as a year, and they could hunt in the dark. In addition, the surviving snakes lived mainly underground or in dense rain forests, so that on the one hand, they avoided the fire and harsh external environment, and on the other hand, they could also obtain scarce water.
Since most natural enemies or other possible food competitors have been eliminated, the surviving snakes can gradually migrate to most continents in the world and multiply and evolve into more species. During the migration and evolution of snakes, giant snakes began to appear in some suitable places for survival, such as giant pythons in the rainforests of Southeast Asia, and giant sea snakes up to ten meters long in some sea areas.
Image source,Getty Images
Researchers at the University of Bath used the distinction between fossils and snake genes to draw a framework for the evolution of modern snakes
The mass extinction and the new era
The latest findings of British scientists are published in Nature Communications. Studies have shown that all modern snakes can be traced to the mass destruction of the meteorite crashing the ground 66 million years ago. There are snakes in the world-from grass snakes, tree snakes, sea snakes, rattlesnakes, cobras to rain forest pythons, all differentiation and evolution occurred after the catastrophe.
Scientists said that any event in the history of natural evolution that caused the extinction of more than half of the species can be defined as a mass extinction. Studies have shown that there have been at least five mass extinction events on Earth so far:
- Late Ordovician or transition period between Ordovician and Silurian (445 million years ago to 443 million years ago);
- Approaching the Devonian-Carboniferous transition period (375 million years ago to 360 million years ago);
- Permian-Triassic transition period (250 million years ago);
- Triassic-Jurassic transition period (200 million years ago);
- And more people are familiar with the Cretaceous-Paleogene “Dinosaur Extinction” 66 million years ago.
Dr Nick Longrich of the Milner Center for Natural Evolution at the University of Bath pointed out that after each mass extinction, species on earth will usher in an era of earth-shaking “full innovation”.
Snakes are among the most successfully evolved species on the earth today. Their “footprints” cover all continents except Antarctica, and exist in almost all ecological environments from deserts to oceans. The smallest snake species is only centimeters, and the largest snake species is as long as A few meters.
Snakes also play an important role in the ecological chain, especially helping humans to control the number of “pests” such as rats. Nevertheless, some snakes are also facing the danger of extinction due to the overlap of their living environment with humans.