Try to think way, way, way, way outside the box for a minute, try to squeeze the 4,500 million years of the Earth's history into a single day, twenty-four little hours. Difficult isn't it? But if you can, this is how the world has progressed - the first signs of life began creeping around just after four o'clock in the morning, it consisted of simple, single-celled organisms and that was it for the next sixteen hours! The day was almost completely wasted until just before eight-thirty in the evening when the first sea plants made a belated appearance. At ten minutes to nine that night the jellyfish pops up it's bizarre head along with many of it's diploblastic (only two layers of tissue, as opposed to the more streamlined three layers which all of us ((humans and animals)) bear today) Ediacaran buddies. Just after nine o'clock, the Alien resembling (the Sigourney Weaver type, not the extra-terrestrial sort) trilobites emerged onto the scene. In a comparative glut of activity, the very odd and very diverse creatures of the Burgess Shale followed close on their heels. There was no stopping life now, just before 22:00, plant life began to flourish, encouraging at long, long last the first land creatures to make their debut. They were blessed, as there followed a warming of planet Earth which accommodated them and others - there followed a proliferation of the great carboniferous forests, as well as the emergence of winged insects. The famous dinosaurs materialised at 23:00 and held sway for three-quarters of an hour, vanishing in an instant, being replaced by mammals. Then, in the dying gasp of the day, humans rocked onto the scene with just one minute and seventeen seconds left!
Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source Russell Shortt, http://www.exploringireland.net http://www.visitscotlandtours.com
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