I don’t think science really categorizes species based on how successful they were. “Passing” in this sense refers to the individuals in the species who were able to reproduce, not the population as a whole. Most dinosaurs “passed” until ecological conditions killed them off, they didn’t die because they failed to adapt. A lot of the species that survived mass extinction events were just lucky, rather than having some ideal set of characteristics that allowed them to survive.
I agree that most species surviving mass extinction events were just lucky, but I think that also says something special about the ones that survived MULTIPLE events (ants), or those that effectively re evolved into existence after extinction events (crabs)
I don’t think science really categorizes species based on how successful they were. “Passing” in this sense refers to the individuals in the species who were able to reproduce, not the population as a whole. Most dinosaurs “passed” until ecological conditions killed them off, they didn’t die because they failed to adapt. A lot of the species that survived mass extinction events were just lucky, rather than having some ideal set of characteristics that allowed them to survive.
I agree that most species surviving mass extinction events were just lucky, but I think that also says something special about the ones that survived MULTIPLE events (ants), or those that effectively re evolved into existence after extinction events (crabs)