• plyth@feddit.org
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    7 hours ago

    What made evolution accelerate so that dinosaur evolution took so long, but turning little mammals into humans was fast?

    • Denjin@feddit.uk
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      6 hours ago

      Mass extinctions promote rapid expansion and diversification of surviving species into newly available niches.

      • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 hours ago

        There’s also a Hypothesis iirc that this rapid expansion also lowered our life span. Longevity Bottleneck Hypothesis though I think this one includes dinosaurs hunting mammals, and maybe Disposable Soma Theory.

        Huh, the second one could probably be used to explain elves in fantasy: long life, low reproduction rate.