Скачать или смотреть How Climate Change Shaped Carnivorans: From Mongooses to Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

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Dive into the fascinating world of carnivorans, the order of meat-eating mammals that includes everything from tiny mongooses to mighty lions and bears. Learn how ancient climate transitions millions of years ago drove the evolution of these diverse body shapes.
Discover the two key climate events: the Eocene-Oligocene Transition around 34 million years ago, which sparked diversification between carnivoran families like felids and canids, and the Mid-Miocene Climate Transition about 15 to 13 million years ago, leading to changes within families.
Explore the role of habitat shifts from warm forests to grasslands in enabling this evolutionary radiation. Experts from the University of Washington explain how climate cooling and increased seasonality eliminated competitors and opened up new niches for modern carnivorans.
Uncover why ancestors started with a mongoose-like body plan and how specialization led to the amazing variety we see today, including surprises like pandas and sea lions.
See what this means for biodiversity and current anthropogenic climate change, where some species may go extinct while others thrive in new environments.
Perfect for science enthusiasts interested in paleontology, ecology, and evolutionary biology.