Novel objects such as pumpkins allow our animals to investigate something that looks, smells and feels different. Some species, like our meerkats can use their cognitive skills to find food inside them, whilst other animals such as our tigers, like to stalk and capture them! Enrichment is very important for our young, developing animals. They need varied environments to develop their movement and thinking skills, just like human babies, so it was great to see how each one reacted.” Something spooky is in the air at West Midland Safari Park, as the animal keepers have been treating the Park’s newest cubs and pups to their own pumpkins.

Wilf, P.; Labandeira, C. C.; Johnson, K. R.; Ellis, B. (2006). "Decoupled plant and insect diversity after the end-Cretaceous extinction". Science. 313 (5790): 1112–1115. Bibcode: 2006Sci...313.1112W. doi: 10.1126/science.1129569. PMID 16931760. S2CID 52801127. a b Friedman, M. (2010). "Explosive morphological diversification of spiny-finned teleost fishes in the aftermath of the end-Cretaceous extinction". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 277 (1688): 1675–1683. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2009.2177. PMC 2871855. PMID 20133356.Sleep, Norman H.; Lowe, Donald R. (9 April 2014). "Scientists reconstruct ancient impact that dwarfs dinosaur-extinction blast". American Geophysical Union. Archived from the original on 1 January 2017 . Retrieved 30 December 2016. Ostracods, a class of small crustaceans that were prevalent in the upper Maastrichtian, left fossil deposits in a variety of locations. A review of these fossils shows that ostracod diversity was lower in the Paleocene than any other time in the Cenozoic. Current research cannot ascertain whether the extinctions occurred prior to, or during, the boundary interval. [53] [54]

What we're left with are basically the seeds of what we have today. Many of the major animal groups that are alive today were in place before the asteroid impact and they all suffered some level of extinction - but the lines that led to modern animals got through,' says Paul. The K–Pg extinction had a profound effect on the evolution of life on Earth. The elimination of dominant Cretaceous groups allowed other organisms to take their place, causing a remarkable amount of species diversification during the Paleogene Period. [29] After the K–Pg extinction event, biodiversity required substantial time to recover, despite the existence of abundant vacant ecological niches. [34] Evidence from the Salamanca Formation suggests that biotic recovery was more rapid in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere. [40] Microbiota [ edit ] a b Chiarenza, Alfio Alessandro; Farnsworth, Alexander; Mannion, Philip D.; Lunt, Daniel J.; Valdes, Paul J.; Morgan, Joanna V.; Allison, Peter A. (21 July 2020). "Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117 (29): 17084–17093. Bibcode: 2020PNAS..11717084C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2006087117. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 7382232. PMID 32601204.

a b Harries, P. J.; Johnson, K. R.; Cobban, W. A.; Nichols, D.J. (2002). "Marine Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary section in southwestern South Dakota: Comment and reply". Geology. 30 (10): 954–955. Bibcode: 2002Geo....30..954H. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0955:MCTBSI>2.0.CO;2. Due to the fragmentary nature of the fossil, it is difficult to say for certain whether it was a true dinosaur. Either way, it is thought to be very close to their origins. Kauffman, E. (2004). "Mosasaur predation on upper Cretaceous nautiloids and ammonites from the United States Pacific Coast" (PDF). PALAIOS. 19 (1): 96–100. Bibcode: 2004Palai..19...96K. doi: 10.1669/0883-1351(2004)019<0096:MPOUCN>2.0.CO;2. S2CID 130690035. Approximately 35% of echinoderm genera became extinct at the K–Pg boundary, although taxa that thrived in low-latitude, shallow-water environments during the late Cretaceous had the highest extinction rate. Mid-latitude, deep-water echinoderms were much less affected at the K–Pg boundary. The pattern of extinction points to habitat loss, specifically the drowning of carbonate platforms, the shallow-water reefs in existence at that time, by the extinction event. [64] Fish [ edit ] Zinsmeister, W. J. (1 May 1998). "Discovery of fish mortality horizon at the K–T boundary on Seymour Island: Re-evaluation of events at the end of the Cretaceous". Journal of Paleontology. 72 (3): 556–571. Bibcode: 1998JPal...72..556Z. doi: 10.1017/S0022336000024331. S2CID 132206016.

In what is now central India, there was substantial volcanic activity that, although unrelated to the asteroid impact, was causing problems of its own. The resulting lava outcrop is now known as the Deccan Traps.The end-Cretaceous event is the only mass extinction definitively known to be associated with an impact, and other large extraterrestrial impacts, such as the Manicouagan Reservoir impact, do not coincide with any noticeable extinction events. [199] The river bed at the Moody Creek Mine, 7 Mile Creek / Waimatuku, Dunollie, New Zealand contains evidence of a devastating event on terrestrial plant communities at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary, confirming the severity and global nature of the event. [75] Multiple impact event [ edit ] a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p MacLeod, N.; Rawson, P.F.; Forey, P.L.; Banner, F.T.; Boudagher-Fadel, M.K.; Bown, P.R.; Burnett, J.A.; Chambers, P.; Culver, S.; Evans, S.E.; Jeffery, C.; Kaminski, M.A.; Lord, A.R.; Milner, A.C.; Milner, A.R.; Morris, N.; Owen, E.; Rosen, B.R.; Smith, A.B.; Taylor, P.D.; Urquhart, E.; Young, J.R. (1997). "The Cretaceous–Tertiary biotic transition". Journal of the Geological Society. 154 (2): 265–292. Bibcode: 1997JGSoc.154..265M. doi: 10.1144/gsjgs.154.2.0265. S2CID 129654916. The living non-archosaurian reptile taxa, lepidosaurians ( snakes, lizards and tuataras), survived across the K–Pg boundary. [34] These changes likely occurred as a result of the first dinosaurs walking on their hind legs, or being bipedal. Season Two: " Resigned to It" • " Calliope Dreams" • " Save the Whale" • " Against the Tide" • " Giggles" • " Wish Upon a Starfish" • " Tail of Two Crabs" • " Metal Fish" • " T'ank You For Dat, Ariel"

a b Alroy, John (1999). "The fossil record of North American Mammals: evidence for a Palaeocene evolutionary radiation". Systematic Biology. 48 (1): 107–118. doi: 10.1080/106351599260472. PMID 12078635. Largely ignored due to its scrappy nature, the fossil is composed of part of an arm bone plus a few vertebrae. Crucially, however, some of these vertebrae are from close to the hip and show that three of them were sacral vertebrae, and this three-vertebra sacrum is one of the defining features of dinosaurs.

Friedman, M. (2009). "Ecomorphological selectivity among marine teleost fishes during the end-Cretaceous extinction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Washington, DC. 106 (13): 5218–5223. Bibcode: 2009PNAS..106.5218F. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0808468106. PMC 2664034. PMID 19276106.