The world changes. Mountains rise and fall. Seas come and go. Whole families of animals vanish. But not all animals follow suit. They survive. They live through global disasters.
They observe the dinosaurs come and go. They are still here today. These animals are ancient survivors. Their bodies are templates of triumph. They’ve cobbled together a way of life that functions. They have had no need to evolve much in millions of years. Below are seven animals that have been around since the days of dinosaurs.
What Does This Mean
First we must understand time. The era of dinosaurs was the Mesozoic Era. It started some 250,000,000 years ago. Sixty six million years ago, it came to a sudden close with the arrival of a giant asteroid. That impact wiped out the big dinosaurs. But not all life.
Many animals in the sea and on land lived through that. Some of the survivors from even before that impact are still here. They are commonly referred to as living fossils. Not that they are identical. It means their basic body plan is ancient, and good. They are time capsules from a very ancient Earth.
One The Horseshoe Crab
This animal is a helmet with a tail. It is not a crab. It’s more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Horseshoe crabs have roamed the earth for more than four hundred fifty million years. They were around here and we can’t see them alive since before the dinosaurs. And they saw the dinosaurs come and go.
They inhabit shallow ocean waters. Their skin makes a hard carapace that acts as armor. They have nine eyes. They have blue blood. Blue blood means a lot to humans). It is used to try medicines on germs. For eons, this blood has protected them from infections.
Mating happens at the nests each spring. It is how they have always lived, for millions of years. They persist because they are simple and robustly designed. They can survive for a long time without food. They are tough. They are survivors.
Two The Nautilus
This is a swimming shell. It is a mollusk, similar to a snail or an octopus. The nautilus inhabits an ornate coiled shell. The shell has chambers. In the last big chamber, a type of animal lives. It could fill the remaining chambers with gas to float. It moves by jet propulsion.
Nautiluses have survived for half a billion years. They’re more ancient than the first dinosaurs that plodded the Earth. Their eyes are simple pinholes. They have as many as ninety tentacles. They are slow moving carnivorous predators of the open ocean.
They live in the deep ocean because the pace of change there is slow. Their graceful shell is a contraption from another era. It still works perfectly today.
Three The Tuatara
This creature appears to be some kind of lizard. But it is not a lizard. It is the last surviving member of an ancient order known as Rhynchocephalia. This crowd used to be all over the place during the age of dinosaurs. Now only the tuatara remains. Its habitat is small islands around New Zealand.
There’s a third eye on the tuatara’s forehead. This eye is responsive to light and dark. It helps with daily rhythms. Tuataras can survive for more than a century. They like cold weather. They grow very slowly.
They made it because the island they live on has no mammals. Mammals are their main competition. They felt safe on their islands. They are a living window to the time of reptiles that preceded Tyrannosaurus rex and its prehistoric kin.
Four The Crocodile
This is the most celebrated of ancient survivors. Gentle creatures crocodiles and their cousins have been around for about eighty five million years. They shared an era with the final dinosaurs of all — Tyrannosaurus Rex. They saw the asteroid strike.
Their design is the key. Long powerful body. Strong jaw. Top of head with eyes and nose. This lets them hide in water. They are ambush hunters. They are able to go months without food. They have strong immune systems. They are patient.
Crocodiles survived the great extinction. Then they survived the coming of mammals. They exist because they are the apex predators. They change little because their shape is exactly right for their life.
Five The Coelacanth
This fish is a legend. The last time 人们认为是在六千六百万年前就已经绝迹了。 Then, in nineteen thirty eight, a fisherman caught one alive. It was a shock to science. This fish was of the dinosaur age.
Coelacanths are large heavy fish. They dwell in dark ocean caves deep below. They have limb-like fins which walk in an odd manner. Researchers believe these fins offer a first glimpse of the transition from sea to land.
They live in the stable environment of the deep sea. Their population is small. They are rare. But they are here. They are a genuine dinosaur age fish, alive and well in our modern day oceans.
Six The Dragonfly
Dragonflies are flying jewels. But they are ancient assassins, too. Three hundred million years ago, there were dragonflies the size of seagulls, with wingspans as wide as your head and jaws like a metal can opener. They lived among the first dinosaurs. Today’s dragonflies are smaller, but otherwise much the same.
They are expert fliers. Forward rearward and hover flight 3. With their thousands of lenses, their eyes are huge. They snatch at other insects in flight with their legs.
These giants survive because they are the ultimate flying hunters. Their endurance is part of it. They lead their lives as water nymphs for years. Then they become flying adults. This two step life is a very ancient winning formula.
Seven The Sea Turtle
Sea turtles are ancient mariners. Sea turtles first descended over 110 million years ago. They swam with gigantic marine reptiles. They survived the asteroid that killed those giants.
Their shell is a fortress. They can travel vast distances across oceans. They have a built in compass. They can feel the Earth’s magnetic field. This allows them to find their way back to the beach where they were born in order to lay eggs.
They persist through the hardships of survival and navigation. Their life is long and travel-filled. Now they have a host of new dangers, ranging from plastic to fishing nets. But their ancient pattern continues.
Why These Animals Matter
Yet these survivors have important lessons to teach us. What we see in them is that evolution isn’t always change. It is often about stability. Sometimes if a design is working really well it can last forever. These animals had a good thing going on living on Earth.
They also show us resilience. They survived the worst day on Earth. That asteroid impact resulted in firestorms and darkness. It killed three out of four things that were alive. These animals made it through. They braved the cold and hunger. They found a way.
Now they face a new threat. People change the world so fast. We pollute the oceans. We warm the climate. We destroy habitats. The ancient survivors of the dinosaur age might fall victim to human activity. This is a deep thought. It is a call for care.
These living fossils need to be preserved. They are not just animals. They are history books. They are tales of survival rendered in flesh and bone. Each one is a time miracle. They tether our own world to the world of lost giants and wonders. They are reminders of life and its tough, beautiful demand for safety.
Just consider a beach horseshoe crab. You’re looking at an animal as old as the oldest mountain. Stare at a dragonfly in the sun. What you’re looking at is a design that has been refined long ago before our time. These ancient survivors are gifts. They are the oldest living things that we can look at and touch. They tell us to endure. They tell us to adapt. They remind us that in a world of relentless change some good things endure.