Global extinctions hold a special place in Earth's history. Today, paleontologists identify five such events of the greatest magnitude. The last global extinction allowed mammals to occupy numerous ecological niches and evolve to the stage of upright, intelligent observers. Scientists know it as the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and in popular culture, as the extinction of the dinosaurs. A brief description of it goes like this: Around 66 million years ago, 16% of marine animal families and 18% of terrestrial families perished "instantaneously," in geological terms. While not alarming at first glance, upon closer inspection, this amounts to the destruction of virtually all existing ecosystems. Not a single species of medium or large size remained on land. In the seas, only a few sharks remained. Plankton and coral reefs were destroyed, and forests were replaced by fern wastelands. In total, three-quarters of all species disappeared from the face of the Earth. After a short period of time, ecosystems are restored, but without the main dominant feature of the Mesozoic – without dinosaurs. The Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx are an ancient necropolis on the west bank of the Nile (near Cairo, Egypt), built in the 26th–23rd centuries BC by the pharaohs of the Fourth Dynasty (Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure). The complex includes three great pyramids and a monolithic Sphinx with the body of a lion and the face of a man, likely depicting Khafre, who guards the tombs. The Great Sphinx on the west bank of the Nile at Giza is the oldest surviving monumental sculpture on Earth. Carved from a monolithic limestone rock in the form of a colossal sphinx lying on the sand, the face of which, as has long been believed, was given a portrait likeness to the pharaoh Khafre (c. 2575–2465 BC), whose funerary pyramid is located nearby. The statue is 73 meters long and 20 meters high, making it the largest single-stone statue in the world. A small shrine was located between the front paws. The estimated date of construction is 2559 BC. #history #dinosaur #pyramids #egipt #science
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