Read through
mammals
7 paragraphs · about 2 minutes
Every paragraph the index cites under mammals, once, in the order of the book. Beside each stand the entries that cite it.
59:0.65. The mammalian era occupies the last fifty million years. This recent-times era is known as the Cenozoic.
60:1.11Several million years later the first mammals appeared. They were nonplacental and proved a speedy failure; none survived. This was an experimental effort to improve mammalian types, but it did not succeed on Urantia.
Paper 61, The Mammalian Era on Urantia, is cited whole. Read it in the reader ›
61:1.2Early in this period and in North America the placental type of mammals suddenly appeared, and they constituted the most important evolutionary development up to this time. Previous orders of nonplacental mammals had existed, but this new type sprang directly and suddenly from the pre-existent reptilian ancestor whose descendants had persisted on down through the times of dinosaur decline. The father of the placental mammals was a small, highly active, carnivorous, springing type of dinosaur.
61:1.3Basic mammalian instincts began to be manifested in these primitive mammalian types. Mammals possess an immense survival advantage over all other forms of animal life in that they can:
61:1.4–8 · five paragraphs not cited here ·
61:1.41. Bring forth relatively mature and well-developed offspring.
61:1.52. Nourish, nurture, and protect their offspring with affectionate regard.
61:1.63. Employ their superior brain power in self-perpetuation.
61:1.74. Utilize increased agility in escaping from enemies.
61:1.85. Apply superior intelligence to environmental adjustment and adaptation.
61:1.945,000,000 years ago the continental backbones were elevated in association with a very general sinking of the coast lines. Mammalian life was evolving rapidly. A small reptilian, egg-laying type of mammal flourished, and the ancestors of the later kangaroos roamed Australia. Soon there were small horses, fleet-footed rhinoceroses, tapirs with proboscises, primitive pigs, squirrels, lemurs, opossums, and several tribes of monkeylike animals. They were all small, primitive, and best suited to living among the forests of the mountain regions. A large ostrichlike land bird developed to a height of ten feet and laid an egg nine by thirteen inches. These were the ancestors of the later gigantic passenger birds that were so highly intelligent, and that onetime transported human beings through the air.
61:2.2Although the early placental mammals sprang from carnivorous ancestors, very soon herbivorous branches developed, and, erelong, omnivorous mammalian families also sprang up. The angiosperms were the principal food of the rapidly increasing mammals, the modern land flora, including the majority of present-day plants and trees, having appeared during earlier periods.
65:2.12It was from an agile little reptilian dinosaur of carnivorous habits but having a comparatively large brain that the placental mammals suddenly sprang. These mammals developed rapidly and in many different ways, not only giving rise to the common modern varieties but also evolving into marine types, such as whales and seals, and into air navigators like the bat family.
Onward
See also animals
Cited alongside: dinosaurs