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Eons
When a Tiny Land Bridge Triggered an Ice Age
Season 8
Episode 8
On land, the Isthmus of Panama kicked off possibly the greatest natural experiment in the history of life on Earth. In the water, this narrow strip of land did something completely different: it divided. And that division would have a much bigger effect on the planet than the land connection ever did.
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7:54
Around 300 million years ago sails were all the rage, but we're still not sure what they were for.
10:44
During the Permian Period many tetrapods, or four-limbed vertebrates, took to life in the trees.
9:29
For millions of years after the Great Dying microbes ruled the Earth.
26:06
Life begins to rebound after the destruction of the mass extinction ending the Permian Period.
25:37
An apocalypse ended the Permian Period 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 80% of species.
25:37
The first saber-teeth and tusks evolve in the Late Permian and our ancestors, the cynodonts, appear.
25:37
An extinction in the Middle Permian decimates life, from a fossil reef to our ancient relatives.
25:37
The first herbivorous vertebrates evolve on the side of the amniote family tree leading to mammals.
25:37
Seed plants and amniotes adapt to dry climates, helping them thrive on Pangea in the Permian Period.
9:11
How did Homotherium evolve to be so successful? The answer may lie in the rise of the Tibetan plate.
10:16
The mystery of what non-flying dinosaurs were doing with their feathered wings has a new hypothesis.