Some Dinosaurs Made Underground Dens

anthemaniac writes "Scientists have long puzzled over how some dinosaurs and other creatures survived the asteroid impact that supposedly caused the KT mass extinction 65 million years ago and wiped out all the big dinosaurs. One idea has been that smaller animals, including mammals, could have endured the fallout, the big chill, the subsequent volcanoes, and whatever else by burrowing. Now scientists have come up with the first evidence of burrowing dinosaurs. They speculate that underground dens might explain how some dinosaurs got through long, dark winters at high latitudes, too."

On the evolutionary tree...

[TFGeditor]

...I wonder where the branch is that sprouted modern burrowing/hibernating reptiles and mammals. And where did the branch bifurcate to give rise to non-burrowing/hibernating mammals? To my best recollection, all reptiles hibernate in one fashopn or another.

     

What's so puzzling?

[tompaulco]

I don't see why dinosaurs would have had to burrow to survive. I'm sure many dinosaurs died because they were close to the blast. But others were on the other side of the world. Global climate changed as a result of the impact, and most of the larger dinosaurs probably died of starvation. The smaller ones probably found enough to stay alive. Notably, most of the early mammals were also small.

Re:Dinosaur extinction breaks my brain

[am 2k]

Actually, many scientists believe that dinosaurs evolved into what is now known as birds.

You wouldn't find any of the mammals that lived back then in today's world, either.