In the oceans of our planet are home to more than 500 species of sharks, from tiny to huge sharks-goblins and other monsters. And, the current balance of species of sharks that we see today originated after the mass extinction the Cretaceous-Paleogene period 66 million years ago, according to a new study. In the Cretaceous period (which was between 142 million and 66 million years ago) over seas commanded a detachment lunoobraznye sharks Lamniformes. Modern lunoobraznye sharks include great white, Mako and hammerheads.
However, studying the various shapes of hundreds of ancient fossil shark teeth, the researchers found that a variety margarinefabrik sharks Carcharhiniformes is the largest group of sharks today, including tiger sharks and others began to develop rapidly, while lunoobraznye sharks extinct. This balance has been preserved to our times.
the"the Study of fossil sharks is a curse and a blessing," says Neil Eshleman, an evolutionary biologist from the University of St. Ambrose, who did not participate in the study. "Complete copies is extremely rare, because the cartilaginous skeletons of these animals are poorly fossilized. Sharks continually produce and lose teeth throughout their life. Actually, because of this treasure with the teeth we have a clear understanding of when in the geological record appearance and disappearance of different groups of sharks".
After Analyzing the various forms 597 ancient sharks teeth from around the world, Dating back to 56 — 72 million years ago, scientists came to the conclusion that the extinction of one group of sharks and the prosperity of the other was associated with a change in diet and food sources. Lunoobraznye ate a lot of squid, and marine reptiles, but many of them died. Small bony fish, on the other hand, began to flood the sea and become food for margarinefabrik shark that was hunting them.
The Study of the evolution of sharks is helping scientists find ways conservation of modern species that are under threat of destruction.
Recommended
Can genes create the perfect diet for you?
Diet on genotype can be a way out for many, but it still has a lot of questions Don't know what to do to lose weight? DNA tests promise to help you with this. They will be able to develop the most individual diet, because for this they will use the m...
How many extraterrestrial civilizations can exist nearby?
If aliens exist, why don't we "hear" them? In the 12th episode of Cosmos, which aired on December 14, 1980, co-author and host Carl Sagan introduced viewers to the same equation of astronomer Frank Drake. Using it, he calculated the potential number ...
Why does the most poisonous plant in the world cause severe pain?
The pain caused to humans by the Gimpi-gympie plant can drive him crazy Many people consider Australia a very dangerous place full of poisonous creatures. And this is a perfectly correct idea, because this continent literally wants to kill everyone w...
Related News
Egyptian power: the Great pyramid of Giza concentrates electromagnetic energy
an international group of scientists applied the methods of theoretical physics to study electromagnetic response of the great pyramid on the airwaves. Scientists predicted that in the resonance conditions the pyramid can concentr...
The scientists said in any exoplanets it is best to search for life
Where and how to look for extraterrestrial life? Astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets and several thousand more candidates for this status. What's next? What to look for when searching for signs of extraterrestrial ...
An experimental drug helped to cope with baldness and development of gray hair
By and large, criteria such as gray hair and hair loss in most cases have no problems other than purely aesthetic. However, many people are trying by all means to avoid these changes, masking and delaying the inevitable. According...
#news high technology 254 | water on Mars and space drive on water
Every Monday in the new issue of «News high-tech» we summarize the previous week, talking about some of the most important events, the key discoveries and inventions. This time we'll talk about the first space of the eng...
X-ray technique showed a previously unseen substance near a black hole
International cooperation Japan and Sweden helped to clarify how gravity affects the shape of matter near a black hole in a binary system Cygnus X-1. Their findings, published in Nature Astronomy this month, will help scientists f...
Like cures like: food poisoning will be treated with the help of bacteria
Hard to find someone who at least once in my life felt the effects of food poisoning. However, some species can cause very severe intestinal infection, which is not limited by simple diarrhea. And sometimes in medicine practice th...
IBM Watson has issued an "unsafe and improper" recommendations for the treatment of cancer
the company's Internal documents show IBM that medical experts working with Watson, had found "numerous examples of unsafe and incorrect recommendations for treatment" using the software, according to Stat News. From the documents...
"Forgotten" immunoglobulin effectively protect from HIV
Deadly disease often require the development of new methods of treatment. However, as the saying goes, "new is well forgotten old". For example, recently a group of researchers from the Texas biomedical research Institute have dis...
Discovered the neurons responsible for consciousness
Over the past century, neurophysiology has made great progress, but the structure of most of the functions of the brain still remains a mystery. But, it is possible that one mystery related to the human nervous system become less....
The Andromeda galaxy eaten by the sister of our milky Way
the Andromeda Galaxy, our closest neighbor, it turns out, hides a very dark past. Astronomers from the University of Michigan found that about two billion years ago Andromeda swallowed the sister of our milky way. All so, our gala...
Artificial intelligence has learned to identify birds by their singing
the bird Population is rapidly declining due to deforestation, agriculture and climate change. Scientists are tracking the types, recording their screams, but even the best computer cannot reliably distinguish the signals of some ...
Why no one understands how quickly to develop artificial intelligence?
Now many of us are familiar with Moore's law, the famous principle, according to which the development of computing power follows an exponential curve, doubling in the ratio of price-quality (that is, speed per unit cost) every 18...
Gene editing with the CRISPR/Cas9 can be deadly
a Method of editing DNA CRISPR/Cas9 is considered one of the most important discoveries in modern genetics. However, the large potential of the technology hides a monstrous side effects. Figure it out, scientists were allowed exte...
Scientists have discovered a Jupiter 12 new satellites
Astronomers from the Carnegie institution announced the discovery of 12 new satellites of the gas giant Jupiter. 11 of discovered objects, scientists have attributed to the "normal" outer moons, while one is "strange". The discove...
Human evolution: back to the trees?
Scientists have discovered a new interesting hints in the dorsal columns of the ancient ancestors of the people who indicate that their different subtypes moved differently depending on the environment. Published in American Journ...
To fight cancer cells helps...cancer cells
Scientists know about cancer almost everything. However, to overcome this dangerous disease completely from the experts have not yet been obtained. But if cancer cells are so intent on destroying everything, why not get them to de...
Spectral analysis of the nearest exoplanets has increased the potential of its habitability
last year, the exoplanet is only 11 light years from Earth. And not just another exoplanet, and rocky exoplanets, presumably with great potential for habitability. A new group of researchers conducted a deeper analysis of the open...
Scientists have found a way to remove the body of senescent cells
Aging is an inevitable consequence of our existence. However, since time immemorial, mankind has sought to overcome this process (and ideally, and even immortality). To the ideal we have not yet reached, but to increase life expec...
Editor of genome CRISPR managed to recreate the stage of development of melanoma
Editor of CRISPR genome has been repeatedly proved its effectiveness. And he managed to do it again. Recently a group of researchers from San Francisco were able to identify the sequence of genetic changes that turn the benign nev...
Unfair penalty for a goalkeeper, but to fix it
Penalty – one of those elements of games that make football particularly interesting. So it was that a penalty is completely unfair to the goalie. Statistics show that the chances to reflect a ball in the goalkeeper is almost ther...
Comments (0)
This article has no comment, be the first!