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Eons

When the Rainforests Collapsed

Season 2 Episode 52

The Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse set the stage for a takeover that would be a crucial turning point in the history of terrestrial animal life. If it weren’t for that time when the rainforests collapsed - in an extinction event that you probably haven’t heard of - our ancestors might never have made it out of the swamps.

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234 million years ago, the climate suddenly changed for the wetter.
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In 1912, a fossil collector discovered the world’s only known semi-aquatic dinosaur.
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The search for our origins go back to a single common ancestor.
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We talk to Amy Atwater, Collections Manager at the Museum of the Rockies.
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Mysterious fossils can be used to tell time in the deep past.
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Where did turtles come from? And how did the they get their shells?
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The Sudden burst of diversity that marked the dawn of truly complex life on our planet.
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