How Did Sharks Survive Asteroid Impact?

About 66 million years ago, Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula A large asteroid hit. This impact was a violent event that changed Earth’s climate, triggered volcanic activity, and scattered vast amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere. This event, including dinosaurs It left many living things among the dusty pages of history.

Sharks, It has a history much older than dinosaurs. It is one of the animals that existed and is still alive today. Indeed, how did these predatory underwater animals manage to survive the asteroid impact that obliterated many living species?

Our finned friends had managed to survive against many difficulties before the asteroid hit.

250 million years ago, The so-called Perm-Triassic extinction and they survived another mass extinction in which 95% of all living things on Earth died. There were several reasons why sharks were resilient to such disasters.

These predators able to adapt to a wide variety of environments They are versatile animals that can benefit from different food sources. In this way, they became more resistant to climate changes and disruptions in the food chain caused by the asteroid impact.

Some species give live birth, feeding their young in the womb before hatching; Some species ensure the safety of their offspring by laying their eggs in sheltered places. So you see, almost They are prepared for any apocalyptic scenario.

As if it were not enough to list these features, they also a very strong immune system has. Their blood; It contains a special protein that fights against pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and fungi.

This protein to heal his wounds and helps protect against infections. Whale sharks even resemble great white sharks anti-cancer genes even has. In short, these animals can keep up with evolution perfectly.

Now let’s get to our main topic. Their ability to survive this collision is due to the fact that they are not ordinary sea creatures. How Does?

These animals somehow manage to survive in environments and conditions that many marine creatures cannot survive. Scientists say sharks in extremely hot environments, high pressure and low oxygen levels He observed that it can keep up with challenging environmental changes such as

In fact, the biggest example of the issue we are talking about is living inside an active underwater volcano We can offer hammerhead and reef sharks. Emma Bernard, fossil fish curator at the Natural History Museum in London, talked about the adaptation of these underwater predators to changing environmental conditions in her article:

“Part of this is because sharks come from deep, dark oceans. into shallow seas and even river systems It would not be wrong to say that this is due to their ability to use different parts of the water column. such as plankton, fish, crabs, seals and whales They feed on a wide variety of foods. This diversity means that sharks as a group are more likely to survive when the situation in the oceans changes.”

According to one study, researchers are still aware of sharks’ involvement in this event. Not sure if they were affected much or not. In addition to things like food and mates, temperature, weather, sunlight and pollution may also have played a role in their survival.

Research shows that some species live in deep waters. Thanks to their living space and small size It shows that they survived because their prey did not run out.

After the asteroid impact, tiny algae became a constant food source for deep-sea creatures, including the fish eaten by sharks, and this continued over time. to survive It helped.

Moreover, they are not the only ones who survived this incident. Two species that have managed to survive for centuries crocodiles and horseshoe crabs too He is in the caravan of survivors.

All three species among the oldest living beings The fact that it happened made me wonder whether they would survive in the next apocalypse scenario.

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