[Groxx]

Whales evolved from small land mammals since about 50 million years (half the time since dinosaurs) (it took them more like 20 million, but I'm being generous because whales still exist).

100 million years is an extremely long time. A lot happens in that amount of time.

[fsckboy]

> 100 million years is an extremely long time. A lot happens in that amount of time.

during that period of time, the ancestors of every living thing on earth was also mutating and naturally selecting.

during the entire time the dinosaurs roamed the earth, the mammals and/or their ancestors were also evolving and saving up genetic endowment for being the fittest in every eventuality; sadly, the dinosaurs bet on the wrong ... horses.

[gus_massa]

The big famous ones got toasted, but one[1] of the small specie survived. A few decades ago, we realized that birds are the descendant of dinosaurs. (Or "birds are dinosaurs" if you prefer that classification.)

[1] One specie or a few species? I'm really curious about the current most popular hypothesis.