I know the theory that all mammals evolved from that rat. But what about the reptiles? Didn't they evolve from the dinosaurs?But it's impossible because the dinosaurs got wiped out, didn't they?
2006-09-02 12:59:24 · 11 answers · asked by andrea.2009 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Oh no! you got it all wrong. try asking this one on the Science and Mathematics section.
"Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny."
2006-09-02 15:22:54 · answer #1 · answered by abstemious_entity 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Many animals survived after the asteroid struck earth. The oldest animal on earth is a type of spider that predates the dinosaurs by about 4 million years. The alligator is a direct decedent of dinosaurs. As is the shark, frog, cockroach, and many types of birds. Due to extensive cross breading and condition changes a large number of reptiles emerged shortly after the dinosaurs were wiped out.
2006-09-02 22:02:31 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
'dinosaur' really only refers to the extra large lizards of old. They no longer exist, and the theory is a cataclysmic event of some kind. But such an event need not have wiped out all lizards. If the event caused a climate change that drastically reduced plant life, then the large herbivores might die out (along with the large carnivores that ate them) leaving behind the small versions that could now thrive in the absence of the larger competitors.
The event might also have been a plague of some kind that fast growing species were susceptible to, but slower growing species were not.
We really don't know what happened, but there is certainly no law that says "all reptiles had to have been simultaneously wiped out."
2006-09-02 21:12:11 · answer #3 · answered by lenny 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
mammals did not evolve from a rat... and dinosaurs are reptiles, they evolved FROM reptiles. everything came from the oceans. and the dinosaurs got wiped out but some animals survived
2006-09-02 20:06:15 · answer #4 · answered by sophocles 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mammals didn't evolve from modern rats, rather they evolved from small rodent-like creatures (not unlike rats) that were themselves descended from synapsid reptiles. As for the dinosaurs, they were certain kinds of reptiles. They died out, but other forms of reptiles (various species of lizards for example) survived. All reptiles, living and dead, including the ones that later evolved into mammals, themselves evolved from certain amphibians.
2006-09-02 20:08:39 · answer #5 · answered by Rochester 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
Dinosaurs are a sub-set of reptiles. There were plenty of reptile species before, during, and after the age of the dinosaurs.
Read a book on it!
2006-09-02 20:06:27 · answer #6 · answered by anthonypaullloyd 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The theory of evolution is so much more complicated than that and personally I don't think we have even begun to really understand it.
We can certainly see simple characteristic changes within species, but the broader question of changing from one kind of creature to another don't seem to be well defined.
Science has got a long way to go to make the linkages really make sense.
2006-09-02 21:28:17 · answer #7 · answered by KERMIT M 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Crocodiles are a form of dinosaur.
Never heard that rat theory... lol.
2006-09-02 20:16:10 · answer #8 · answered by mama_bears_den 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the reptile ruled this planet before us, maby they all shrunk from the change from the earth temp and weather ect.
2006-09-02 20:03:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to hit the books,it is all there
2006-09-02 20:29:41 · answer #10 · answered by class4 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋