Short-Snouted Sea Monsters Evolved Rapidly After Wipeout

The discovery of a short-snouted, oceangoing reptile with a whip-like tail suggests that some marine reptiles evolved quickly (geologically speaking) after a mass extinction 250 million years ago, a new study finds. The finding turns an old theory on its head, showing that early marine reptiles didn't evolve slowly after the end-Permian extinction. The extinction wiped out about 96 percent of all marine species, largely due to climate change, volcanic eruptions and rising sea levels, the researc