Where did the prehistoric animals die out?
New scientific evidence suggests that life on earth may have started two and a half billion years ago: The first living things were small and simple and the story of life has been a long struggle of change and improvement. The survivors are the plants and animals that populate our modern world. But many living things failed to keep up with changing conditions and perished.
Almost always, it is the slowest antelope who gets caught by the cheetah. Almost always, it is the mouse who does not keep to the shadows who gets caught by the swooping owl: The beaver family which builds a sloppy dam runs out of water and perishes during the next drought.
As the ancient lions improved their hunting skills, the deer had to run faster to escape them. When the western grasses grew tougher, the small ancestors of the horse had to grow stronger teeth. Nature's children are improving themselves all the time and only the most suitable ones survive.
Sometimes the climate takes a hand and helps along a certain type of animal while perhaps destroying another. This may have been one reason why the giant dinosaurs perished. For almost 200 million years they enjoyed a moist and balmy climate and reptiles, large and small, dominated the earth. Then the climate changed.
The swampy marshes became hard, dry land. The lush plant food needed by certain of the reptiles became scarce. The furry, warm blooded mammals could cope with these changes. What’s more, though they were no match for the giant reptiles in open combat, the mammals were much smarter,
The little mammals may have eaten many dinosaur eggs; this would cut down the number of the reptiles at a time when they were fighting to survive in a changing climate. Most experts think that the prehistoric dinosaurs perished because several factors worked against them, In any case, the last of them said Goodbye to the world some 60 million years ago.
The furry mammals were an improvement on the reptiles. But the cruel Ice Aces wiped many of them such as the mammoth and the giant sloth, out. Those that survived were able to cope with the changing conditions. Bit by bit, Mother Nature is constantly forcing her children to improve themselves to meet new conditions or perish. The prehistoric animals, which failed to survive, were the ones that did not meet her high standards.
There is a big difference between the magnificent tiger and the first little animals. But Mother Nature has had more than two billion years to make all the necessary changes. The modern plants and animals have been passing those stern tests, one by one, for millions of years. Those that failed to meet the challenge of change are no longer here.