Question

Animals are our last branch to look at on the tree of life! So let's remind ourselves of all the major events that we have discussed! To do so, draw a timeline starting with the formation of the Earth to modern day and include the following events on the timeline. If you can't find exact dates, some of them are not well known or definitive, don't worry. What we mostly want you to think about is the order of the events, what had to come first and a general scale.

Answer 1

A timeline from the formation of the Earth to the present shows critical steps such as the appearance of microorganisms, the emergence of multicellular life, the rise of animals, the Cambrian Explosion, the origin of mammals, birds, flowering plants, and the relatively recent arrival of humans.

Step-by-step explanation:

Timeline of Major Events in Earth's History

Constructing a timeline of Earth's history can help us understand the general scale of evolutionary events. Starting with the formation of the Earth about 4.54 billion years ago, the timeline progresses through significant milestones:

1. The appearance of first microorganisms in the oceans, roughly 3.5 billion years ago.
2. Emergence of multicellular life, approximately 1 billion years ago.
3. The rise of animals, which are believed to have evolved from marine protists, starting around 600 million years ago.
4. The diversification of life during the Cambrian Explosion, about 541 million years ago.
5. The origin of mammals, birds, and flowering plants between 200 to 130 million years ago.
6. Finally, the arrival of humans. Homo sapiens have been around for roughly 300,000 years, with the species looking much like it does today for the last 200,000 years.

Using this chronological order, we understand that certain events had to precede others for life to evolve as it has. The timeline shows that humans, while important, are a very recent addition to this long history.