Our planet is home to a glorious variety of animals, but it might not have been. Were it not for the birth pangs of a mega-continent, the evolution of animals could have stopped at its earliest stages. We now have the best evidence yet that an enormous wave of volcanism, caused by several continents crashing together to form the even greater landmass known as Gondwana, was the reason for a sharp rise in global temperature. This change was the driving force for evolutionary explosions that made life more diverse and laid the foundations for all future animal species.
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