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Eons
When the Earth Had Supermountains
Season 8
Episode 15
Supermountains are so ridiculously enormous that, as far as we know, they’ve only ever formed twice, far back in deep time, and they lasted for just a small fraction of our planet’s history. And both of the times when Earth had supermountains seem to coincide with some of the most profound evolutionary shifts in the history of life.
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0:30
The Permian began with the formation of a supercontinent and ended in the biggest extinction ever.
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.
11:45
What did ancient people once know about these bizarre megafauna that we’ve since forgotten?
7:44
5,700 years ago, woolly mammoths crossed a remote tundra island off Alaska.
9:48
Why did vertebrates conquer both the land and the air before the depths of the sea?
8:27
Long-extinct dinosaurs may still haunt us—possibly driving us to age faster than any vertebrate.
10:05
500+ pterosaur fossils found at Solnhofen may be hiding a dark secret distorting our view of them.
11:08
Why are our teeth so sensitive? The answer originates in the armored skin of ancient fish.
10:45
For flowering plants to take over, they first helped burn the old world—and then put the fires out.
11:37
Ancient weeds mimicked crops, tricking farmers into domesticating friends—and enemies—by mistake.