ExtinctZoo - Why Birds Rule The Sky And Pterosaurs Went Extinct

Episode Date: April 15, 2024

Birds and Pterosaurs...they both flew and they both had beaks, but only one made it out of the late cretaceous. What gives?

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Co-Pilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365Copilot.com slash work. During the Mesozoic, there were three major groups of animals that ruled the sky, land, and waters, those being the pterosaurs, non-avian dinosaurs, and marine reptiles, respectively. And pterosaurs in particular were quite successful, as through their 160 million-year reign, they experienced great strides in size and expansion, spreading throughout every single continent on Earth.

Although they weren't alone as there was a mirrored of flying insects that traversed the skies as well. Plus, there was also the avian dinosaurs, of course, which included birds. This class of animals originated during the late Cretaceous about 72 million years ago. But their earlier primitive ancestors had been around for far longer, first appearing in the Middle Jurassic period approximately 165 million years ago. From the get-go, they were rather successful on prehistoric Earth. Yet, they did not reach the same kind of dominance that the pterosaurs enjoyed, mainly because terosaurs had evolved earlier,

thus giving them a head start in a largely untouched niche, with the oldest specimens of pterosaurs dating to the late Triassic. or around 228 million years ago. And through the years of coexisting, birds largely remained much smaller in stature and worse at flying longer distances. This in many ways made them inferior to pterosaurs. And yet, as you may know, it was birds, not terosaurs, that would go on to survive the KT extinction event 66 million years ago, securing their place as the

the new rulers of the sky. The question is though, how? And before answering this, it's important to realize that most birds did in fact die during this event. The Mount Everest-sized asteroid, which struck Earth at speeds 12 times greater than a tank shell, caused many catastrophic effects, including a thermal pulse, shockwaves, mega tsunamis, earthquakes, wildfires. On top of all this, the material that was thrown up by the impact eventually had it come back down, creating immense friction and heat in the atmosphere, essentially turning the

earth into a giant oven that killed anything exposed. As a result, many birds did of course perish, yet a small handful did survive and eventually recovered. On the flip side, while While terosaurs may have survived initially, like birds, they clearly never recovered. To this day, scientists are not 100% certain on the reasons behind this, but believe there could have been a few factors, with a potentially major one being the difference in the two's sizes. As terrors were first on the scene, they were able to establish a foothold in many niches without challenge. They became both large and small in form, although as time passed they specialized more

and more to fill the niche of being an apex predator, leading to a tendency of the species being rather big. This growth in size may have also been exacerbated by birds in the later stages of the Cretaceous, as it was then that birds began to truly thrive and take over the smaller carnivore and omnivore niches within their ecosystems, which led to perhaps to putting evolutionary pressure on pterosaurs to get increasingly large. This discrepancy was for a long time very beneficial for terrors as it meant that birds were no match head-to-head. However, when the asteroid came, the tables were turned, as the impending effects that followed were harder on larger animals, which had trouble both from a food source perspective and from being able

to shelter from the elements, leading to nothing bigger than a full-grown raccoon surviving the KT extinction event. On the other hand, birds with their smaller bodies could venture deeper into more protected areas such as marshlands and thick brush to avoid some of the lethal conditions that developed. Their size would also come into play in the post-apocalyptic world. that emerged, as they require less energy than most animals, which was huge when considering that resources were extremely scarce. On the other hand, surviving pterosaurs would have had a very difficult time. As during the final days of the Cretaceous, the giant terasaur family, known as Asdarkaday,

were the most abundant and widespread terosaurs around. A significant issue as many members like the Hatsygopteryx, and Quetzelcoatlas were giants who required large amounts of calories, which simply didn't exist after the impact. And that isn't to say that all pterosaurs were giants, but it should be understood that even the small terrosaurs of the late Cretaceous were still relatively big, with wingspans being between 1.5 and 2 meters,

or 4.9 feet and 6.6 feet, making them just as big as the largest birds of the time. The pterosaurs also likely struggled after the initial devastation due to their relative lack in diversity, with birds again holding an edge here. Surprisingly, there are actually more known types of pterosaurs than birds from the Mesozoic, with 268 known terosaurs and 263 known birds. However, this changes when focusing solely on the Cretaceous, where bird genera and outnumbered terrosaurs roughly 2 to 1. As a result of their higher diversity, Cretaceous birds

varied a lot in terms of preferred diet and habitat, whereas terrosaurs did not have such diversification. This made recovery easier for birds as they had a higher likelihood of being accustomed to any given ecosystem left standing, while remaining terrosaurs had less of a chance as there were fewer ecosystems that they specialized in. This habitat resilience is actually demonstrated by the pollen differences above and below the KT boundary, which suggests that only two types of ferns dominated the world after the impact. They supported the idea that a great deforestation of trees had occurred, thus wiping out many tree-dwelling animals, including birds that lived in trees. This could have spelled doom for birds as a whole. However, thanks to their diversity, there were ground-dwelling

birds as well, allowing them to more easily adjust to a world overrun by ferns. Additionally, the diversity advantage didn't just help them outperform terrosaurs when it came to habitats, but also with what food remained. It's currently thought that insects, seeds, and nuts were the most abundant source of food after the event, which proved to be a huge win for birds that had small and precise yet tough beaks that could pluck up these items with accuracy and crush them. However, this ability wasn't always unique to birds, at least when it came to insects, as in the beginning both pterosaurs and birds were teethed and liked a snack on small invertebrates. Then, as millions of years passed, the pterosaurs, in addition to

getting bigger, began to slowly shift diets, with them ultimately ending up eating food that was almost exclusively composed of fish and meat, while birds, on the other hand, slowly lost their toothy nature in favor of relatively small beaks. This being said, there are some birds from the late Cretaceous that still had teeth, exemplified by Icteornis, but most were toothless. This, as mentioned, allowed them to eat smaller, harder items, giving them one foot up over terosaurs, who at the time were also mostly toothless, but had large beaks not designed to pick and pluck smaller food items. And birds didn't stop here, as while the vast majority of pterosaurs could no longer

eat such varied foods, birds were still able to eat meat and fish on top of the smaller food items mentioned. This was made possible by their tough beaks yet again, which could sheer flesh off of prey or grip fish which could then be swallowed whole. This is also the part where their gizzards would come into play. This is an organ that functions as a second part of their stomach, and is extremely muscular allowing them to grind up food that is swallowed whole, like pieces of meat, fish, and small invertebrates.

All these tools gave birds an array of food options that took them to be able to be able to options that pterosaurs simply could not compete with, which ultimately granted birds yet another win. And to add fuel to the fire, birds still had other tools up their wings that made them the favored animals to endure the KT extinction event, with an overlooked one being their intelligence. Birds are one of the smartest animals that we know of, and have large brains relative to their bodies. Their intelligence is well documented and Some are even known to have occasionally created and used tools, as demonstrated by crows. This general level of heightened intelligence may have allowed birds to make smarter decisions

and adapt their behavior to the harsh conditions that followed the impact, whereas pterosaurs may have struggled. Unfortunately, terosaur intelligence is not well understood, and we still have no concrete idea of how smart they really were. and this makes it hard to compare them to birds. Though, from what anecdotal evidence we have and preliminary studies that have been carried out, it does seem that they were not as sharp as birds, possessing smaller brains when compared to their bodies. It's been proposed that this hypothetical difference in brains

was due to birds inheriting their gray matter from big brain to theropods, while pterosaurs got theirs from relatively small-brained archosaurs. However, further research needs to take place before we can confirm this. Ultimately, intelligence along with diet, diversity, and size, may have been the deciding factors in the fate of birds and pterosaurs. Yet, it should be remembered that it could have came down to luck as well, with birds simply being in the right places at the right thing. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino and San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamaba's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at Yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly.

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