Up Next
Back to Show
Eons
Our Most Mysterious Extinct Cousins
Season 6
Episode 12
There was a group of hominins, those creatures more closely related to us than to chimpanzees, that did take a different, parallel journey from our ancestors. Our paths ran beside each other - and potentially even crossed at times - but while ours led us here, theirs led to extinction. What happened to Paranthropus and what can their fate tell us about our past?
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
7:53
It arose from rhino ancestors, but Paraceratherium took a different evolutionary path.
8:48
Aegirocassis may have been the biggest animal in the Early Ordovician.
6:46
What is it about the crab’s form that makes it so evolutionarily successful?
7:52
We’ve only started to get to the bottom of how clubs worked and how it developed.
9:48
How and why does botanical carnivory keep evolving?
8:54
Our primate family tree actually originated here!
8:23
The horns probably had a purpose - one that rodents would likely benefit from today.
6:27
How did this giant marine reptile end up high in the Andes Mountains?
9:43
What if the rock art drawings of strange animals really existed?
8:48
How did Thrinaxodon and Broomistega become entombed together?
9:20
Fermented foods opened up a whole new nutritional landscape for us.
12:11
Nobody had ever found a specimen like Borealopelta before.