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Eons
Beans & Bees (Not Bats) Gave Us Butterflies
Season 6
Episode 9
For a few years we thought bats were to thank for the existence of butterflies. The idea was that the evolution of bats drove one group of moths to abandon the night entirely, becoming active during the day to escape, giving rise to butterflies. But it turns out the groups we should actually be thanking for the beautiful bugs are bees and beans.
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Around 300 million years ago sails were all the rage, but we're still not sure what they were for.
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During the Permian Period many tetrapods, or four-limbed vertebrates, took to life in the trees.
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For millions of years after the Great Dying microbes ruled the Earth.
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Life begins to rebound after the destruction of the mass extinction ending the Permian Period.
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An apocalypse ended the Permian Period 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 80% of species.
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The first saber-teeth and tusks evolve in the Late Permian and our ancestors, the cynodonts, appear.
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An extinction in the Middle Permian decimates life, from a fossil reef to our ancient relatives.
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The first herbivorous vertebrates evolve on the side of the amniote family tree leading to mammals.
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Seed plants and amniotes adapt to dry climates, helping them thrive on Pangea in the Permian Period.
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The mystery of what non-flying dinosaurs were doing with their feathered wings has a new hypothesis.