Ancestors of Mammals in The Karoo, South Africa

This project includes work with world-famous paleontologists in the Karoo of South Africa to explore and excavate the fossilized remains of 420 million year old ancient fish and early four-legged tetrapods from the Devonian. We’ll also get hands-on with the fossils for which the Karoo is best known: mammal-like reptiles called therapsids, which are reptiles that show features of mammals and represent a transitional stage between reptiles and mammals. The Karoo in South Africa is one of the most important fossil locales in the world. Over 200 million years ago, South Africa formed part of the southern outreaches of Pangaea, and the Karoo contains a largely unbroken record of prehistoric life, extending from the Permian to the Jurassic period. The fossils in the Karoo rocks include the ancestors of lizards and snakes, tortoises, and crocodiles and dinosaurs.