History Of Life On Earth 🌍

Question 1

Why does glaciation take place?

Answer 1

Because large ice sheets form due to cooling temperatures.

Question 2

How many Ice ages have occurred ?

Answer 2

4

Question 3

What was the name formation of all the continents together ?

Answer 3

Pangea

Question 4

Pangea broke up into two , what were these continents called?

Answer 4

Gondwanaland & Laurasia

Question 5

What is biogeography

Answer 5

The study of the distribution of existing and extinct animal and plants species relative to the geographical regions on earth

Question 6

What was the ostrich called in Africa , Australia , New Zealand and South America ?

Answer 6

Ostrich , emu , moa & rhea

Question 7

What are fossils ?

Answer 7

Complete organisms or remains , traces or tracks of organisms usually preserved in rock

Question 8

Paleontology is?

Answer 8

Study of plant and animal fossils

Question 9

Where were the bivalves and ammonites found ?

Answer 9

On the makhatini plains of northern KZN

Question 10

What is a bivalve ?

Answer 10

A Marine mollusc with a soft body that is compressed in a shell

Question 11

What is an ammonite ?

Answer 11

An extinct marine snail with a flat spiral shell divided into chambers with wavy interlocking walls.

Question 12

Where were fossils of trilobites found?

Answer 12

The Karoo

Question 13

What are trilobites ?

Answer 13

Extinct arthropods which are related to crabs and lobsters.

Question 14

Where were the whale fossils found ?

Answer 14

In the Sahara dessert

Question 15

What is the purpose of a geological timescale ?

Answer 15

To represent a timeline of life on earth from the its origin

Question 16

Name the 4 eras

Answer 16

1. Cenozoic
2. Mesozoic
3. Paleozoic
4. Precambrian

Question 17

What is the fossil record ?

Answer 17

Fossils of different ages which have been discovered and listed.

Question 18

Acrhaeopteryx…what is this?

Answer 18

Earliest and most primitive bird which was the missing link between birds and reptiles which lived in the jurrasic period

Question 19

What happened during the Cambrian explosion ?

Answer 19

Most animal groups occurred during this time

Question 20

Why is it known as the Cambrian explosion?

Answer 20

Due to the relatively short time in which the large diversity of life occurred

Question 21

Where did homo habilis live and with whom ?

Answer 21

In Africa with other Australopithecus species.

Question 22

What is the Australopithecus?

Answer 22

Species which are bipedal primates with both ape-like and human like characteristics

Question 23

Describe homo habilis in comparison to Australopithecus

Answer 23

The body was smaller and more ape like

-they had a larger brain capacity which enabled them to develop skills such as making tools

Question 24

What is homo erectus , give their characteristics

Answer 24

They’re a species that are closer to modern humans than Australopithecus.They had large bodies and were the first to migrate from Africa to Europe and Asia

Question 25

Who is considered to be the direct ancestors of modern humans ?

Answer 25

Homo sapiens

Question 26

What are life forms called which look like their ancestors?

Answer 26

Living fossils

Question 27

When was the coelacanth caught and where ?

Answer 27

23 December 1938 at the South African east coast

Question 28

How many mass extinctions have occurred ?

Answer 28

5

Question 29

Name the two main reasons for the end of the Cretaceous period

Answer 29

Volcanic eruptions and meteorite collisions with the earth

Question 30

Where are fossils found?

Answer 30

Tree resin 
Tar pits 
Ice
Volcanic lava 
Anaerobic swamps

Question 31

What is fossilization

Answer 31

The process wherein which dead organisms or their parts are transferred into fossils.

Question 32

What are the ideal conditions for fossilization ?

Answer 32

The organism must be immediately covered after it dies as this creates anaerobic conditions which inhibit the functioning of decomposers

Harder parts will simplify fossilization, soft tissue is rarely preserved there are exceptions such as insects in Amber