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Scientists finally understand why birds were the only dinosaurs to pull through the end-Cretaceous mass extinction BY STEVE BRUSATTE | ILLUSTRATION BY JULIUS CSOTONYI An early modern bird, Asteriornis, eats seeds in the aftermath of the asteroid impact that killed off all the nonbird dinosaurs 66 million years ago. O N THE FINAL DAY OF THE CRETACEOUS PERIOD, some 66 million years ago, Earth was teeming with a dazzling variety of dino- saurs. In North America, the superpredator Tyrannosaurus rex stalked its favorite prey, the three-horned Triceratops. In Asia, agile raptors eyed herds of duck-billed and armored her- bivores, and a menagerie of miniature carnivores and plant eaters roamed the Euro- pean islands. …
摘自《科学美国人》(Scientific American)第334卷 第5期 · 2026年5月刊,Steve Brusatte。仅引用开头一小段供了解文章,版权归原刊所有,全文请阅读原刊。