Prehistoric and modern mammal vertebrae. 19th-century illustration comparing the cervical vertebrae of extant (living) animals (bottom) with a fossil (top) of the cervical and dorsal vertebrae of the extinct prehistoric ground sloth Scelidotherium leptocephalum, found in South America by British naturalist Charles Darwin. It lived from around 800, 000 to 12, 000 years ago. The extant animals are an aardvark (Orycteropus, centre left), an armadillo (Dasypus, centre right) and a giant anteater (Myrmecophaga, bottom). This is Plate 24 from 'Fossil Mammalia' (1840), part of 'The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle'. This expedition established Darwin's reputation as a naturalist. The volume on fossil mammals was written by British naturalist and palaeontologist Richard Owen. | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division |
Bildgröße: | 3650 px × 4811 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: | - |