Early Mammals May Have Survived What Killed The Dinosaurs Stephen Fung March 29, 2007 The mass extinction that wiped out all terrestrial dinosaurs from the face of the Earth some 65 million years ago is commonly thought to have permitted the subsequent rise of the mammals and their evolution into their present form. However, a new phylogenetic study indicates that the ancestors of today’s mammals were most probably already present long before the event and simply survived it. “What we’ve done is to present a hypothesis for testing, and it’s up to others now to verify our claims or to disprove them.” Source: The Scientist Share This With The World!