Why trilobites are the most successful animals you have likely never seen
In short: Trilobites thrived on Earth for over 250 million years, outlasting the non-avian dinosaurs. This video explores their evolutionary history and what their fossilized remains reveal about survival during mass extinction events.
Trilobites were ancient ocean-dwelling arthropods that persisted through three major mass extinctions. Their evolutionary reign spanned more than 250 million years, a duration that exceeds the time non-avian dinosaurs spent on Earth. Paleontologists study these creatures by examining their hard exoskeletons and behavioral traces preserved within the fossil record.
Curator Melanie Hopkins from the American Museum of Natural History guides this exploration using the institution's vast collection. While 22,000 species have already been identified, researchers continue to describe new species annually, suggesting that much remains to be discovered about these resilient organisms.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Most Successful Animals You've Never Seen (Spoiler: It's Trilobites)
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