M A S S I V E I N S E C T S
The Carboniferous Period transformed the Earth
into a planet somewhat resembling the world
we live in today. Except, of course, for the insects
which sometimes grew as big as the household cat.
Everything about this age had a bigger than life
quality as new organisms flooded the scene with
spectacular innovations that would change the
course of nature.
R A C E F O R S U N L I G H T
The land of the globe's two supercontinents
would soon be covered in vegetation
wherever a plant could sink its roots.
Trees towering more than a hundred feet
made forests of the vast tropical wetlands.
Plants created wood before microorganisms
had developed the ability to breakdown wood.
No termites to aid digestion. Trees died but
did not rot. The accumulated wood reverted
to dense peat.
Millions of years of pressure and intense heat
cooked this layered peat into coal beds
that were thousands of feet thick.
Coal was a readily available source of energy,
compressed and easily transported.
It provided the inexpensive fuel necessary
to power the Industrial Revolution.
E I G H T F O O T M I L L I P E D E
Dragonflies that can barely fit through your
bedroom door. A millipede the length of a
hallway throw rug. Turn on the kitchen light
and, suddenly, you are confronted by a
two foot long scorpion.
Today's atmosphere contains about half
the oxygen ancient insects inhaled when
they breathed the Carboniferous air.
Insect respiration relies on surface pores
to provide oxygen where needed.
This method of diffusion does not supply
an animal's deep tissue, such as organs
central in the body. The animal's size
is severely limited.
Oxygen-enriched air overcame this size
limitation to some degree but insects,
spiders and scorpions will never reach
horror movie size. An elephant-sized
cockroach would suffocate before it
could crush your car.
E V E R Y H A B I T A T C O V E R E D W I T H L I F E
Life above the water's surface. Organisms
breathing air and naked to the sun. Brave new
world. The promise of opportunity everywhere
one looks.
Life takes on all challenges, even the most
foolhardy. Every organism alive is based
upon the dispassionate probe of possibilities.
We look under the rock because it is there
for the finding.
It is part of our DNA.
F O U R L E G G E D V E R T E B R A T E
Land animals begin taking on recognizable forms.
There is a skull at the front end of the animal
with eyes, mouth and a brain. A trailing flat tail
provides both propulsion and steering in water.
Jointed legs provide mobility on land.
Five digits for grasping at legs' end.
What makes five the optimal number?
A more robust method of creation came about
during the Carboniferous period and it changed
the course of both plant and animal development.
The amniotic egg suspended the embryo in a
nourishing fluid that was contained in a protective shell.
The animal's eggs no longer needed a watery nursery
to survive. From this the reptile is born.
For plants the seed replaced the spore.
The advantages enjoyed by egg laying reptiles
were shared with plants encasing their embryos
within a seed. This innovation of improving the
odds of reproductive success, quickly became
the dominant method of creation for both plant
and animal.
C O N T I N E N T S C O L L I D E
Nearing the end of the Carboniferous Period,
the Earth's two supercontinents collided to
create the new continent of Pangea.
Ancient layers of coal were pushed up into what
are known today as the Appalachian Mountains,
caused by the butting of two geologic forces.
The above map shows the state of West Virginia
and its relationship to this earth-crumpling event.
Pangea disrupted the flow of equatorial ocean currents.
The repercussions were severe. The globe became
cooler, dryer. The Earth's southern pole experienced
endless cycles of glaciation. Drought dried up
tropical swamps. There was a collapse of rainforests.
Many amphibians and numerous other water dependent
organisms disappeared from the gene pool.
Drought resistant reptiles took center stage
and were crowned undisputed masters of the land.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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