Splash Biography

Have you ever wondered how your own body was put together over the long journey of evolution? As paleontologists, we ask this question every day, and we look for clues in the fossil record to help us fill in the gaps on how different parts of the body changed over time, and how they work together to keep an animal alive and well. In this class, you will get the opportunity to trace the evolutionary history of several novel structures in the vertebrate body. Specifically, we will discuss a series of case studies on how early vertebrates evolved jaws for chomping, how birds took to the sky with their wings, and how mammal ancestors transformed part of their lower jaws into tiny bones in our ears. At the end of the class, you will be able to design your own scientific expeditions to look for new fossils and extend our knowledge on the rich evolutionary history of vertebrates.