How did alligators survive but dinosaurs didn t?

Crocodiles survived the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs thanks to their ‘versatile’ and ‘efficient’ body shape, that allowed them to cope with the enormous environmental changes triggered by the impact, according to new research.

Did alligators descend from dinosaurs?

Since alligators descend from a common ancestor with dinosaurs, they can provide a useful evolutionary comparison to birds. (Despite their appearance, birds are more closely related to alligators than lizards are.) They tracked how the skull shape changed as dinosaurs morphed into birds.

Did crocodiles and alligators evolve from dinosaurs?

About 250 million years ago, the archosaurs split into two groups: a bird-like group that evolved into dinosaurs, birds, and pterosaurs, and a crocodile-like group that includes the alligators and crocs alive today and a diversity of now-extinct relatives.

How big were alligators in the dinosaur era?

The research, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, found that the Deinosuchus, a lineage of the giant crocodilians from North America, grew up to 33 feet long and “was the largest carnivore in its ecosystem,” in the late Cretaceous period about 75 to 82 million years ago.

How ancient are crocodiles?

Crocodiles. Modern crocodiles and alligators are almost unchanged from their ancient ancestors of the Cretaceous period (about 145–66 million years ago). That means that animals that were almost identical to the ones you can see today existed alongside dinosaurs!

Are there alligators and dinosaurs in the same family?

Yes, ancient species of alligators (and multiple species of crocodiles) lived at the same time as dinosaurs. Several species of the order Crocodilia that include Crocodiles and Alligators of the modern-day evolved during the Mesozoic era.

Are there any living alligators?

The answer is not so straightforward as there are no living dinosaurs of the fossils we find. Luckily, we have tools and scientists to help us understand the relationships, like classification, dinosaur fossils, and of course, the living alligators themselves.

What is the origin of alligators?

The first of the ancestors of alligators emerged from Diapsids about 245 million years ago. These were the Archosaurs, and they were the common ancestor of alligators and dinosaurs. The first crocodilians approach about 90 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. The first alligator species, now extinct, was Brachychampsa.

Are there any animals that lived with Dinosaurs?

Alligators Alligators, like crocodiles, are one of the animals that inhabited the planet along with dinosaurs.