A study conducted recently by the US-Chinese scientists confirms that the multiplicity of the frog species could be the main cause of the probable asteroid strike that exterminated the dinosaurs’ species. The findings shows that the frog populace exploded after the death had occurred 66 million years back. The study is published in the journal PNAS.
The frogs are one of the largest and most varied collections of vertebrates, with over 6,700 species in existence. However, lack of genetic data has hindered the efforts to track down their evolutionary record.
The study findings indicate that there are three species of current frogs that appear almost concurrently. This species diversification could have happened on the footsteps of the asteroids which once struck the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Studies done in the past have consequently issued warnings that the Earth would be hit by powerful asteroids which are coming very close to the Earth Planet. Recently, Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons from Queens University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre underlined the threats that asteroids could bring to the planet.
The warnings were highlighted before the celebrations of the Asteroid Day were done on June 30. Fitzsimmons cautioned that no one knows when the event is likely to happen but nevertheless, the world should be prepared to counter the collision if it ever comes.
The latest Asteroid Day marked the 109th anniversary since the last greatest asteroid event that occurred in Siberia known as Tunguska Event. The explosion was which was found to be an asteroid fragment that measured about 10 megatons. The blast didn’t injure any human life but millions of trees over a span of 830 sq miles were flattened.
Another study conducted by David Blackburn of the Florida Museum of Natural History proves that frogs have existed for more than 200 million years ago. Conversely, the burst of frogs’ diversity occurred recently after the extinction of dinosaurs species from the world. Astronomers usually discover the asteroids almost every day but most of them are harmless. But Fitzsimmons insists that there could be another Tunguska waiting to surprise the world in the near future.
