Paleontologists in the UK and China have shown that the natural world bounced back vigorously following the End-Permian Extinction.
In a review, published today in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science, scientists reveal that predators became meaner and prey animals adapted rapidly to find new ways to survive. On land, the ancestors of mammals and birds became warm-blooded and could move around faster.
At the end of the Permian period, 252 million years ago, there was a devastating mass extinction, when nearly all of life died out, and this was followed by one of the most extraordinary times in the history of life. The Triassic period, from 252–201 million years ago, marks a dramatic re-birth of life on land and in the oceans, and was a time of massively rising energy levels.
“Everything was speeding up,” said Professor Michael Benton of the University of Bristol School of Earth Sciences, the lead author of the new study.
“Today, there is a huge difference between birds and mammals on the one hand, and reptiles on the other. Reptiles are cold-blooded, meaning they do not generate much body heat themselves and, although they can nip about quite quickly, they have no stamina, and they cannot live in the cold, said Prof Benton.