First-Year Seminars 110ER - Emergence of Animals

The origin of animals was one of the most important events in the history of earth. In this course we will review the history of the planet, learn basic geology, and then examine the problem of the origin of animals by studying Mount Holyoke's unequalled collection of Precambrian and Cambrian fossils. The emergence of animals has been called the Cambrian Explosion. We will examine what this means for our understanding of evolutionary theory.

Course limited to first-years, transfers, and FPs in their 1st 2 semesters