💥 THE GREAT EXTINCTION
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66 MILLION YEARS AGO...
🌍
Earth Was a DINOSAUR PARADISE
For 165 million years, dinosaurs ruled every continent. The skies were filled with pterosaurs, the oceans with mosasaurs. It was the most successful reign of any animal group in history.
FACT
700+ Species
Scientists have discovered over 700 named dinosaur species. Thousands more are still buried in rock, waiting to be found.
"Nothing could stop us. We had ruled for 165 MILLION YEARS..."
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CHICXULUB IMPACTOR
K-BOOM!!!
☄️
AN ASTEROID 10KM WIDE HITS YUCATÁN, MEXICO
Travelling at 20km per second. The impact released 1 billion times more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The shockwave circled the globe within hours.
HOUR 1
🌋 Mega-Tsunami
Waves 300 metres high crashed across coastlines. Earthquakes magnitude 11+ shook every continent simultaneously.
WEEK 1
🌫️ Nuclear Winter
Soot and debris blocked the sun globally. Temperatures dropped 15°C overnight. Plants stopped photosynthesising.
YEARS LATER
💀 75% Gone
Three out of every four species on Earth went extinct. The food chain collapsed from the bottom up.
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WHO SURVIVED?
⚡ FACT PANEL
Small animals that could burrow underground survived the first weeks. Creatures that could eat seeds, insects, or carrion had an advantage when plants disappeared.
🐊 Crocodilians survived
🐢 Turtles survived
🐦 Small feathered birds survived
🐍 Snakes & lizards (some) survived
🐀 Small mammals survived
🦖 Non-avian dinosaurs → EXTINCT
🐢 Turtles survived
🐦 Small feathered birds survived
🐍 Snakes & lizards (some) survived
🐀 Small mammals survived
🦖 Non-avian dinosaurs → EXTINCT
THE AFTERMATH
🐀
The Meek Inherited the Earth
Tiny rat-sized mammals that had lived in the shadows of dinosaurs suddenly had an empty world. Over the next 10 million years, they diversified into every ecological niche the dinosaurs had left behind.
"Our moment had finally come. From that tiny creature — eventually — came YOU."
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BUT WAIT...
🐦
Dinosaurs DIDN'T go extinct!
One group of dinosaurs — the feathered theropods — survived and evolved into modern birds. Every bird you see today is a living dinosaur.
The chicken in your kitchen is more closely related to T-Rex than T-Rex is to a Stegosaurus.
The chicken in your kitchen is more closely related to T-Rex than T-Rex is to a Stegosaurus.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
📌 REMEMBER THIS
✦ The asteroid hit 66 million years ago
✦ It was 10km wide, hit at 20km/s
✦ 75% of all species went extinct
✦ Mammals rose to fill the gap
✦ Birds are living dinosaurs — they survived!
✦ It was 10km wide, hit at 20km/s
✦ 75% of all species went extinct
✦ Mammals rose to fill the gap
✦ Birds are living dinosaurs — they survived!
🧠 QUIZ TIME!
THE GREAT EXTINCTION · 5 QUESTIONS
QUESTION 01
How wide was the asteroid that caused the mass extinction?
QUESTION 02
What percentage of all species went extinct in this event?
QUESTION 03
Where did the Chicxulub asteroid land?
QUESTION 04
Which group SURVIVED the extinction and eventually evolved into humans' ancestors?
QUESTION 05
Which living animals are actually modern dinosaurs?
0/5
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