Mammals Ruled The World, Twice!
So, what vertebrates have been the most successful throughout the history of the world? Was it dinosaurs? No. They were around for about 250 million years before they went extinct 65 million years ago. I'd say insects but I don't think they count. LOL! I think it's perhaps the mammals that are the most successful. Why? Because they ruled the land twice. It started in the Permian period. I used to look at mammals as evolutionary losers. Especially after Jurassic Park and what I learned about dinosaurs after becoming fascinated by them in the movie. It was actually reading Dougal Dixon's book that made me a believer in the age of mammals. In the Permian, we had synapsids. We cannot call them "mammal-like reptiles" anymore, but they were reptiles with mammal-like characteristics. Most people today refer to them as "mammaliformes". Which is a name I originally was going to assign to the mammals of tomorrow because there are a few distinct differences bet...