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walking with prehistoric beasts
How Do We Know?

How do we know a 50-million-year-old fossil once wore stripes? Meet some of the prehistoric beast experts and find out for yourself.

Mikael Fortelius
Mikael is a professor of ecological paleontology at the University of Helsinki in Finland. He is a specialist in the evolution of Eurasian land mammals and terrestrial environments during the Neogene Epoch, from about 24 million years ago to 5.3 million years ago. He is also an expert in what may be the largest land mammal that ever lived: Indricothere.
audio Where'd the biggest animals thrive? Dr. Fortelius knows: Real | Windows

Where did the large, post-dino animals come from? Read Dr. Fortelius's answers.

   Mikael Fortelius
Mark D. Uhen
Mark is an expert in whale and dolphin evolution and in prehistoric whales, including Dorudon and Basilosaurus. Dr. Uhen is curator of paleontology and zoology at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

What's the biggest whale that ever lived? Read Dr. Uhen's answers.

   Mark Uhen
Bob Brain
Bob is a naturalist who has spent most of his career at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, South Africa, where he was director for 23 years. He has done extensive research on fossil assemblages from South African caves, where early hominids (some of which gave rise to humans) regularly fell prey to predators, and is currently pursuing his interest in the roots of predation among the earliest animal fossils in Namibia.
audio We evolved from what? Dr. Brain studies pre-humans: Real | Windows

How do we know the color of a long-dead animal? Read Dr. Brain's answers.

   Bob Brain
Frank Fish
Frank is a biology professor at West Chester University of Pennsylvania with an expertise in the evolution of aquatic mammals. His research includes new findings in the biomechanics of swimming and how mammals evolved to live in water. His studies include theories on how Ambulocetus, the so-called "walking whale," may have evolved some 50 million years ago.
audio Why did some mammals take to the water? Dr. Fish explains: Real | Windows

Could humans have been water-dwellers? Read Dr. Fish's answers.

   Frank Fish
Scott Foss
Scott is a paleontologist who works for the National Park Service at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Kimberly, Oregon. Dr. Foss is an expert in particular in the massive creatures called entelodonts, which may have lived as long as 45 million years ago.
audio What's that ugly SUV-sized beast? Let Dr. Foss explain: Real | Windows

Why are "beasts" smaller today? Read Dr. Foss's answers.

   Scott Foss

Pictures (top): BBC |
Pictures: Courtesy of Dr. Mikael Fortelius | Courtesy of Dr. Mark Uhen | Courtesy of Dr. Bob Brain | Courtesy of Dr. Frank Fish | Courtesy of Dr. Scott Foss |

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