Vertebrate Paleontology

The vertebrate animals that are alive today can all trace their history back to a worm-like organism that lived more than 500 million years ago. Since then, vertebrates have diversified into an incredible number of forms across almost every environment on Earth, and this diversification is recorded in the geological record. This course examines the complex evolution of vertebrates in the context of an ever-changing planet. By the end of the class, students will be able to understand where some of our anatomical features came from, how features of other vertebrates evolved, and how they have changed over the last 500 million years.