Rise of mammals 'began well before dinosaur extinction'

 

Published

8 June 2016

image copyrightRICHARD BIZLEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

image captionAn asteroid impact is thought to have wiped out most dinosaurs around 66 million years ago

Mammals began to flourish well before the end of the dinosaur age, a new study has found.

The study saw hundreds of mammal fossil teeth analysed by the Universities of Southampton and Chicago.

The findings showed those with varied diets began to adapt 10 to 20 million years before the dinosaurs died out.