S M I T H S O N I A N   I N S T I T U T I O N
N A T U R A L   M U S E U M   O F   H I S T O R Y

Washington D.C.

The first exhibit I encounter is called the Ancient Seas. This extensive display covers three pre-historic eras of plant and animal development, namely, the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic Eras.

The Paleozoic Era - 570 to 230 million years ago. At that point, life wasn't all that impressive. But, as they say, you have to crawl before you can walk before you can run. I guess we're crawling here.

The Mesozoic Era - 230 to 65 million years ago. Yup, we're starting to walk here. Within the world's watery depths, life has certainly started to flourish.

The Cenozoic Era - the past 65 million years. We're really running at this point, we even have the appearance of early whales.