The surprising animal that survived the meteor that killed the dinosaurs

Multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.

Charles Darwin

Sixty-six million years ago, give or take, a massive asteroid struck what is now the Yucatán Peninsula, triggering the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and about three-quarters of life on Earth. Yet some small creatures, against all odds, made it through the apocalypse.

There weren’t many ‘winners’ of that catastrophic, but pivotal, day in Earth’s story. But a study published in Biology Letters points to a survivor that you may not be familiar with: the ancestors of today’s night lizards.

• Earth’s sixth mass extinction has begun according to scientists

Why did some reptiles survive the asteroid impact?

Unlike the fast-breeding species that usually bounce back after disasters, night lizards had just one or two young at a time. Even so, at least two lineages pulled through. Researchers from Yale built an evolutionary tree using nuclear DNA and fossil evidence, showing that these reptiles were well established across North and Central America long before the asteroid arrived.

Their secret may not have been speed or strength, but instead location. Night lizards lived in what are called microhabitats – rock crevices and rotting logs - that shielded them from the heat, dust, and firestorms above. You could say it was survival by obscurity, hiding in pockets that the disaster couldn’t fully reach.

Does producing fewer offspring hurt survival chances?

Conventional wisdom says that a lower offspring count would work against your species – consider the giant panda – but these lizards suggest otherwise. Their persistence challenges the idea that large litter sizes are the ticket to making it through mass extinctions. Sometimes it seems the quieter strategy works: slow reproduction, minimal change, and staying tucked away in overlooked corners of the ecosystem.

This could be the most surprising part of the research. We tend to expect survival to be more about speed, numbers, or adaptability. And it can be. These reptiles, however, remind us that sometimes the right crack in the rock could be worth more than a thousand eggs. And if you walk across parts of the Americas today, you might still see their descendants – tiny survivors carrying the imprint of the day the dinosaurs died.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.