History of life on Earth

The UCMP website contains thousands of pages of content about the history of life on Earth. Our main exhibit sections include:

		History of life through time This enormous collection catalogs life on Earth, focusing on the ancestor/descendant relationships which connect all organisms, past and present.				Tour of geologic time Journey through geologic time to see how the Earth has changed since its debut 4.5 billion years ago.

		Understanding Evolution The Understanding Evolution site includes discussion of evolutionary theory, evidence for evolution, the relevance of evolution to our daily lives, and the history of evolutionary thought.				The Paleontology Portal The Paleontolgy Portal focuses on the fossil record of North America, including state-by-state U.S. paleontology, fossil photo galleries, and resources for the North American paleontologist community.

		K-12 resources Activities and lessons specifically for K-12 teachers and their students.				Mystery fossil Perhaps it was photographed from a different viewpoint or from up close. Maybe it's odd-looking or simply uncommon. Can you identify the monthly mystery fossil?

		Research profiles Take a look at some of the exciting work happening at UCMP. These profiles give a glimpse of science in action.				The world's biomes Explore our planet's biomes — environmental divisions defined by the community of organisms adapted to live within them. This includes forest, desert, tundra and more.

		Special exhibits A collection of miscellaneous exhibits that UCMP has put together over the years. Dinosaurs, coelacanths, mantis shrimp and more!

		Squid science: Field notes from Stephanie Bush May 4, 2007 Explore the deep sea and get to know its denizens with UCMP grad student Stephanie Bush. Stephanie is trying to answer the question, "Why would a squid living in the blackest depths of the ocean, where no surface light can penetrate, release a cloud of ink?"

		Mystery fossil #64 May 4, 2007 Here's another fossil from the UCMP collection for you to try to identify. Can you figure it out?

		Why the eye? May 4, 2007 Eyes are clearly incredibly useful, but where did the eye come from? How did so many animals evolve eyes and why do they look so different? This Understanding Evolution case study answers these questions.

Evo in the news: Seeing the tree for the twigs May 4, 2007 This Understanding Evolution news brief takes a look at new research showing that our own evolution may be more of a small hop in comparison to the leap taken by our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.