First-Year Seminars 110ER - Emergence of Animals

The origin of animals was perhaps the most important event in the history of our planet. In this course we will review the history of Earth, learn basic geology, and then examine the problem of the origin of animals by studying Mount Holyoke College's unequaled 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 evolution, and review the hypotheses proposed to explain this extraordinary event.

First-year students only, by placement.