☄️ The great extinction

About sixty-six million years ago, a huge space rock crashed into the Earth with unbelievable force. It threw so much dust into the sky that sunlight was blocked for a long time, plants died, and the food chain collapsed. Along with huge volcano eruptions around the same time, this wiped out most dinosaurs.

The object that struck Earth was a huge asteroid, a rocky chunk left over from the birth of the solar system, likely more than ten kilometres across. It slammed into what is now the Gulf of Mexico at enormous speed. The impact released more energy than millions of the biggest explosions people have ever made.

Scientists found a thin layer of special dust in rocks all around the world, right at the moment the dinosaurs vanished. This dust is rich in a metal that is rare on Earth but common in asteroids. Later they even found the giant buried crater, which matched the same age, confirming the story.

When the giants died out, many small animals pulled through, including the ancestors of birds, along with mammals, insects, crocodiles and turtles. Being small often helped, because tiny creatures needed less food and could hide or shelter. When sunlight returned, these survivors spread out and filled the empty world.