Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid as big as Mount Everest was headed on a deadly collision course with Earth.
The impact was so devastating that it wiped out the most gigantic, deadliest reptiles to ever roam our planet. But dinosaurs didn’t just die from one big boom. No. They faced a slow, agonizing end.
This dinosaur-ending asteroid is terrifying. Not only was it about 10 km (6 mi) in diameter, but it also traveled incredibly fast, between 10 and 30 km/s (6-18 mi/s).
Once it entered our atmosphere, it only took this massive space rock a few seconds to reach the Earth’s surface and alter the course of life forever.
As the asteroid slammed into Earth off the coast of where Mexico is now, it sent huge amounts of debris into the air. The shocking blast wave killed everything in its way. And from here, it was only getting worse.
The land was burning. The fires caused by this devastating impact spread across the continent like literal wildfire, killing more and more life in their way.
And then, just when you thought the apocalyptic scenario couldn’t get any more intense, well, it did. The impact of the asteroid hitting Earth was so powerful that it sent shockwaves through the planet. All that energy had to go somewhere. Cue the mega-tsunami.
The massive amount of debris in the air blocked the sunlight for months, maybe even years. Earth suddenly became a cold, dark place. And the dinos weren’t ready for it.
As temperatures plummeted and fires released enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, the climate changed dramatically. Plants weren’t able to perform photosynthesis, and many of them started to die out. This disrupted the food chain and starved many animals that survived the impact.
And remember the acid rain? It lasted for several years, causing more devastation to the ecosystems. The oceans became too acidic for marine life. Most ocean species didn’t have the time to adapt to such a drastic change.
These prolonged harsh conditions, together with the initial blast, pushed about 75% of Earth’s life to extinction. The good news is that this included the horrifying T.rex. As much as I feel bad for this guy, I’m happy this it’s not running around today.
When the last of the dinosaurs breathed its last breath, Earth became an empty, devastated place. Cold and acidic.
One thousand years later, the planet was recovering from the post-apocalyptic winter. It was still cold, and food was still scarce. But life was finally ready to make a comeback.
In this new wild world, a few furry little critters were sprinting around. Among the first plants to reappear after the impact were ferns. They really hit it off well after the disaster.
One hundred thousand years later, Earth began to get a little more lively. Creatures about the size of raccoons were repopulating the continents. And the oceans were once again teeming with life.
Fast-forward about 10 million years, and Earth had finally restored its biodiversity. Only it wasn’t the same Earth as it used to be.
Now it was the Age of Mammals. Yeah, after the dinosaurs checked out, mammals were on fire. Not literally, of course. Mammals, together with birds and flowering plants, were rocking the planet.
Yeah, Earth never got back to its old self. After the last dinosaur perished, it took our planet millions of years to bounce back in a new way. And don’t get me wrong, this world was still pretty terrifying. It had beasts like Paraceratherium roaming the land and Megalodons reigning terror in the oceans.
