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How Chewing May Have Beat Extinction

Season 8 Episode 6 | 9m 35s

66 million years ago, after an asteroid slammed into the Earth and wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs, the world became a dark wasteland. But among the survivors were two distantly-related groups of animals that, on the surface, seem to have nothing in common: tiny mammals and a group of lizard-like reptiles.

Aired: 11/17/25
Extras
During the Permian Period many tetrapods, or four-limbed vertebrates, took to life in the trees.
Around 300 million years ago sails were all the rage, but we're still not sure what they were for.
What about the Great Dying caused a global age of mutant plants?
For millions of years after the Great Dying microbes ruled the Earth.
The Permian began with the formation of a supercontinent and ended in the biggest extinction ever.
The Permian began with the formation of a supercontinent and ended in the biggest extinction ever.
How did Homotherium evolve to be so successful? The answer may lie in the rise of the Tibetan plate.
The mystery of what non-flying dinosaurs were doing with their feathered wings has a new hypothesis.
What did ancient people once know about these bizarre megafauna that we’ve since forgotten?
5,700 years ago, woolly mammoths crossed a remote tundra island off Alaska.
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What about the Great Dying caused a global age of mutant plants?
Around 300 million years ago sails were all the rage, but we're still not sure what they were for.
During the Permian Period many tetrapods, or four-limbed vertebrates, took to life in the trees.
Life begins to rebound after the destruction of the mass extinction ending the Permian Period.
An apocalypse ended the Permian Period 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 80% of species.
The first saber-teeth and tusks evolve in the Late Permian and our ancestors, the cynodonts, appear.
For millions of years after the Great Dying microbes ruled the Earth.
An extinction in the Middle Permian decimates life, from a fossil reef to our ancient relatives.
The first herbivorous vertebrates evolve on the side of the amniote family tree leading to mammals.
Seed plants and amniotes adapt to dry climates, helping them thrive on Pangea in the Permian Period.