Scientists have just come to a startling conclusion about frogs that will really change your perception of these fascinating creatures. Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that the asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs may have given frogs their big break.

Frogs have been around for 200 million years, and they were able to not only survive but thrive in this post-apocalyptic environment. Scientiststhink that nine in 10 frog species today evolved from three types of frogs that lived before the event.

The reason why frogs were able to handle this extreme event is because they are masters at the art of survival, as they can live underground and survive for long periods of inactivity. As seed bearing trees and flowering plants took over the landscape, these three frog lineages began to dwell in the trees, which is something they didn’t use to do.

“A new study by Chinese and American biologists shows that if the calamity had not wiped the planet clean of most terrestrial life 66 million years ago, 88 percent of today’s frog species wouldn’t be here,” the statement reads. “Nearly nine out of 10 species of frog today have descended from just three lineages that survived the mass extinction. The results, published online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are a surprise, because previous studies of frog evolution pinpointed the blossoming of the main frog lineages today to about 35 million years earlier, in the middle of the Mesozoic era.”