Our ancestors evolved faster after dinosaur extinction
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 - 10:31
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Our ancestors evolved three times faster in the 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs than in the previous 80 million years, according to researchers. The team found the speed of evolution of placental mammals -- a group that today includes nearly 5000 species including humans -- was constant before the extinction event but exploded after, resulting in the varied groups of mammals we see today.