Timeline : 21st Century

2000: The Paleobiology Database, an authoritative online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals, plants, and microorganisms founded

2000: Toby White's Vertebrate Notes established. In 2002 this would be merged with MAK's paleo pages at Kheper net to become Palaeos (more).

2001: Astrophysicist and science educator Eric Chaisson, the author of Cosmic Evolution: Rise of Complexity in Nature, (Harvard Univ. Press, 2001) and Epic of Evolution: Seven Ages of the Cosmos, (Columbia Univ. Press, 2006). Chaisson's account of Cosmic Evolution is based on evolutionary directionality,, and he divides this into 'Seven Ages of the Cosmos': Particulate, Galactic, Stellar, Planetary, Chemical, Biological and Cultural, with evolution continuing into the future. (Wikipedia) More

2001: Mikko's Phylogeny Archive established. This site would become the largest interlinked dendrogram.

2002: Chased by Dinosaurs is a BBC program featuring features wildlife presenter and naturalist Nigel Marven as a time-traveller who encounters dinosaurs in the wild. The two-part series, a sequel to Walking with Dinosaurs. A three part sequel, Sea Monsters, was later broadcast in 2003. In 2006 the similar series Prehistoric Park, a six-part mockumentary Prehistoric Park was produced by ITV. It features Marven going through a time portal to various geological periods to bring back live specimens for a breeding program; special effects by the Walking with Dinosaurs team, Features fairly realistic animals and introduced some scientific speculation. Cancelled in favour of Primeval.

2002: launch of Palaeos (due to difficulties in maintaining it, the site would later go off line in 2006 and again 2009-2010)

2004: Discovery of the Devonian fish-amphibian "missing link" Tiktaalik on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, Canada. The species was described scientificxally two years later.

2005: Although Wikipedia first came online in 2001 it was only by about 2005 that it began to include a reasonable amount of articles on Paleo subjects, although most were very stubby or of poor quality (during this time the one of us contributed a number of entries). As of 2011 Wikipedia contains a large amunt of good quality articles (and even more stubby ones) and is easily the largest single reference of paleo topics (however it is not the largest Paleo only website as it is, obviiously, devoted to many other topics). With information now flowing the other way, it is also now (late 2011) an invaluable resource for padding out incomplete entries here on Palaeos MAK111205

2005: Walking with Dinosaurs the prequel Walking with Monsters, set primarily in the Paleozoic era, and showing various invertebrates, fish, amphbians, and early reptiles.(MAK, Wikipedia)

2006: Eric Chaisson's Epic of Evolution: Seven Ages of the Cosmos, provides a unifying cosmic-evolutionary worldview of the Universe and our sense of place in it More

2007: British science fiction television series Primeval, tells of a team of scientists investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present. Created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines, who previously created the Walking with Dinosaurs/Beatss/Monsters documentary series.

2007: Pope Benedict XVI publishes Creation and Evolution, where he writes "This clash (between evolution and Creationism) is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such." (Wikipedia)

2008: Dinosauricon defunct

2009: Fossils of Titanoboa are unearthed in the coal mines of Cerrejón in La Guajira, Colombia. This large snake gives a hint that Earth was warmer than 90°F (30°C). (Wikipedia - Timeline of Paleontology)

2009: Description and publicity around "Ida" (Darwinius masillae) a genus of basal primate (Adapiformes) from the Eocene of Germany. The original fossil was discovered in 1983. The genus was named in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin. The creature appeared superficially similar to a modern lemur. Wikipedia - more

2010: Greg Paul publishes The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (published in the UK as Dinosaurs: a Field Guide). Updates Predatory Dinosaurs of the World with new discoveries, and illustrations of other dinosaurs as well as theropods. Covers 735 species with over six hundred of Paul's illustrations. However, each species is given less consideration than in the previous work.

Late 2010: Mikko's Phylogeny Archive no longer updated.

2011: Xiaotingia zhengi an Archaeopteryx-like animal from early Late Jurassic of western Liaoning, China described; affirms dromaeosaur relationships of Archaeopteryx and other transitional dino-birds.

2011: re-launch of revised Palaeos (though still under construction)

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