Thursday, August 14, 2014

Did the breakup of Pangaea during the Jurassic Period led to the extinction of some dinosaurs and the evolution of other dinosaurs?

Not only dinosaurs, but all living things either evolved or extinguished.  Periodically, the Earth goes through a time of a "Great Die-Off," where the environment is so quickly and radically altered that most living things die.  Those that remain produce descendants that are more able to fit into the new environmental niches.  That process may have happened relatively quickly, in terms of geologic time.  In terms of long-term evolution, it's interesting to note that certain areas will develop their own life forms -- Australia, being genetically isolated after the Pangaea breakup, went on to evolve creatures that were (and are!) found nowhere else on the planet.

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