The dinosaur extinction was good news for snakes, with the population exploding in diversity after they died out, new research shows.
It’s well known that the demise* of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago triggered major diversification* in mammal and bird species.
And now US researchers have found that snakes also experienced a similar rapid increase in species after the dinosaurs became extinct.
Mammals and birds were able to thrive without dinosaur competitors and predators and the researchers say these flourishing new species quickly became food for snakes that previously only ate insects.
This evolutionary chain reaction resulted in the almost 4000 species of snakes that we see today.
This carpet python at Sydney Zoo is one of almost 4000 snake species that exist today after a rapid increase in snake diversity following the extinction of dinosaurs.
The study by the University of Michigan and the University of California researchers looked at the diets of almost 900 modern snake species.
“We found a major burst of snake dietary diversification after the dinosaur extinction,” said study lead author Michael Grundler.
“Species were evolving quickly and rapidly acquiring the ability to eat new types of prey.”
Study co-author Daniel Rabosky said snakes were found to be good at adapting their diets to include new types of prey, including when they started to arrive in new places as they spread around the world.
“What this suggests is that snakes are taking advantage of opportunities in ecosystems,” Associate Prof. Rabosky said.
“Sometimes those opportunities are created by extinctions and sometimes they are caused by an ancient snake dispersing to a new land mass.”
The study, which was published in the journal PLOS Biology, found the ability of snakes to change their diets was a key in the development of new species that were able live in different habitats.
Sources: Kids News /Internet