Page 50 - One Million Things: Animal Life - The Incredible Visual Guide

520 MILLION YEARS AGO

Opabinia had five eyes

Opabinia MILLION YEARS AGO Around this time there was a massive explosion in the numbers and types of invertebrates in Earth’s warm oceans. Anomalocaris was a 2-ft- (60-cm-) long predator that swam using two winglike flaps. Opabinia grabbed prey with its long proboscis. 265 MILLION YEARS AGO Forests of conifers thrived in warm dry conditions where mammal-like reptiles dominated life on land. One was Dimetrodon, a giant predator with a “sail” on its back that he

Anomalocaris were the main hunters.

520

AGO

AGO Head of Dunkleosteus protected by bony plates YEARS

YEARS MILLION

MILLION 265 Dragonfly
ANCIENT ANIMALS
Around one billion years ago the first animals appeared
on Earth. Since that time, a vast array of animal species
have evolved, or developed gradually over successive
generations. Extinction (when a species dies out) is a
natural part of this process, even when whole groups
370
disappear as a result of dramatic changes in their
environment. These are just some examples
Dunkleosteus

from the history of animal life. Streamlined body shape allowed Cladoselache to move quickly through the water Cladoselache 370 MILLION YEARS AGO The oceans abounded with many animals, including new types of fish. The placoderms—early fish with jaws—included Dunkleosteus, an armored giant that sliced through prey with its razor-sharp toothplates. The earliest sharks included Cladoselache, a predator that seized prey and swallowed it whole.

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