About 66 million years ago, Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula A large asteroid hit. This impact was a violent event that changed Earth’s climate, caused volcanic activity and released enormous amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere. This event, including dinosaurs It left many living beings in the dusty pages of history.

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

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

250 million years ago, The so-called Permian-Triassic extinction and they survived another mass extinction that killed 95% of all living things on Earth. 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 a variety of 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 birth alive and nurse 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 listing these features isn’t enough, here are them 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 genes against cancer even has. In short, these animals can keep up with evolution very well.

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 works?

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

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

According to one study, researchers are still aware of shark involvement in this event. I’m not sure if it bothered them 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 they did not run out of prey.

After the asteroid impact, small algae became a constant food source for deep-sea animals, including the fish eaten by sharks, and remained so 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’s in the caravan of survivors.

All three types among the oldest living things The fact that it happened made me wonder if they would survive in the next apocalypse scenario.

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