Mammals are more likely to survive in extreme conditions

January 29, 2009, Nature Ecology & Evolution, a scientific journal, published a study that showed that mammals and birds have the best resistance to rapid climate change on Earth.

In the study, scientists analyzed how nearly 11,500 animals survived the hot and cold changes of the weather over the past 270 million years.

The results show that hot-blooded species are more resistant to reptiles and amphibians.

Lead researcher Jonathan Rolland, of the University of British Columbia, said mammals and birds have a better ability to survive and expand their range of living than all animals. other.

The 3 horned Triceratop dinosaurs have become extinct.(Source: fineartamerica.com).

According to him, this could "have a big impact" on the number of extinct species and provide a picture of the future world.

Warm-blooded animals can regulate their body temperature, allowing them to warm their babies or their babies, and increase their chances of survival.

This group, including mammals and birds, can migrate or hibernate more easily than cold-blooded animals, whose body temperature is determined by the external environment.

When a large rock in the universe rushed to Earth 66 million years ago, its fragment entered the atmosphere and reduced the planet's temperature for decades.

This collision "wiped out" flying dinosaurs, from species to. But the hot-blooded mammals still survive, and since then have grown while the entire dinosaurs have disappeared from Earth.

now has created another mass extinction. This is the first time since the dinosaur "permanent departure" , and the sixth time on Earth within half a billion years.

Previous studies have shown that many animals are disappearing, 100 times faster than before the Industrial Revolution, when temperatures began to rise.

Looking at fossil records and genetic data, Mr. Rolland and his colleagues developed a diagram showing where the animals lived for 270 million years, along with a range of temperatures that allowed them to survive. in.

For example, when the "green" planet cooled about 40 million years ago, mammals and birds still adapted well and moved to a new place. Meanwhile, cold-blooded animals cannot adapt.

That's why we don't see many reptiles and amphibians in Antarctica or even in temperate climates.

Evolutionary research and past extinctions can provide important traces of human-induced climate change - faster than any natural change that happened before. How this - will affect the ecological diversity on Earth.