The dinosaurs inherit the Earth
Their rivals are wiped out, and within a few million years dinosaurs dominate every large-animal niche.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 million years
- Era
- Jurassic, Mesozoic
The crocodile-line archosaurs that had outnumbered and outcompeted dinosaurs for thirty million years are almost entirely destroyed at the end of the Triassic; dinosaurs pass through comparatively unscathed. Why is unresolved — possibly respiratory physiology, possibly insulation, possibly luck. Whatever the reason, the Jurassic opens with dinosaurs unopposed, and they hold that position for 135 million years.