Steven Earle > Quotes

“Earth formed on January 1. Life evolved in mid-February (around 4,000 million years ago), but there would have been nothing that was visible without a microscope until the ancestors of worms, jellyfish, and corals evolved on about November 13. Plants moved onto land around November 24 and amphibians on December 3. Reptiles evolved from amphibians during the first week of December. Dinosaurs and early mammals had evolved from reptiles by December 13, but the dinosaurs — which survived for 160 million years — were gone by Boxing Day (December 26). Primates evolved a day or so later (December 27), and humans from Asia first stepped foot into the western hemisphere at about two minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve.”
― Steven Earle, A Brief History of the Earth's Climate: Everyone's Guide to The Science of Climate Change