After a 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) asteroid ravaged Earth, vipers, cobras, tree and sea snakes, boas and pythons all appeared.
Several fascinating theories regarding the evolution of living things have been told. According to one of them, a massive asteroid slammed into Earth's atmosphere 66 million years ago, annihilating non-avian dinosaurs.
Surviving species like mammals, frogs and reptiles spread out, diversified, and evolved into many of the species we know today. However, new research has pinpointed what snakes were doing during the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction.
Only a few of the asteroid-surviving snakes appear to have evolved into all of today's serpentine species. There's been some debate among scientists regarding how much the mass extinction heavily impacted reptiles like lizards and snakes. Initially, it was assumed that they experienced only minor losses, but evidence of a high rate of squamate extinctions around the K-Pg border in North America was discovered, according to the team that wrote about it.
Because there are few early snake fossils, evolutionary genetic research of snakes is based on a small number of features. According to the researchers, this can lead to skewed patterns that don't reflect their genuine genetic history. Researchers at the University of Bath have transformed evolutionary genetic study of snakes by merging several modelling methodologies utilising genetic data and fossil sampling in different time frames to provide a full view of modern snakes between then and now.
Because competitors (including other snake species) died out, the survivors were free to move around and relocate into new environments and habitats.
There were cretaceous snakes before this time period because their vertebrae were different. However, after the destruction of those snakes, contemporary snakes in all of their magnificent shapes and forms began to emerge.
After the giant 10 kilometre (6.2 miles) asteroid ravaged Earth, vipers and cobras, tree and sea snakes, boas and pythons all appeared. The team concluded, "Our results help corroborate the fundamental role of the K-Pg mass extinction in shaping the vertebrate biodiversity occupying our planet today."
The extinction of many vertebrate groups during the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) period resulted in the rapid global expansion of surviving mammals, birds, and frogs. "This seems to be a general feature of evolution – it's the periods immediately after major extinctions where we see evolution at its most wildly experimental and innovative" the team added.
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 "Massive asteroid collision helped cobras, pythons, vipers and boas evolve - Here’s how")
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