Marvelous 



ran 



Parade 



Whether they were enormous, hke the 



leaf-eating Indricotherium on the left (the 



largest land mammals ever) or tiny, most of 



the marchers in Earth's marvelous 



mammahan parade have fallen. . .are extinct. 



The animals that remain today (ourselves 



included) pale in comparison with the 



melange of mammals of the past. But the 



survivors have overcome countless trials and 



accidents and squeezed through many 

 keyholes over the last 200 million years. And 



they contain traces of their lost ancestors' 



many fascinating experiments in adaptation. 



The fossil record is litde more than a few 



torn and scattered pages from the immense 



history book of mammals. But even these 



bits tell wondrous tales. 



And, as shown in the articles and artistic 



reconstructions that follow, paleontologists 



continue to dig up new clues and 



to reinterpret the story of life on Earth. 



This special section oi Natural History was prepared by 



consulting editor Judy A. Rice. 



Scientific consultant: Richard H. Tedford, chairman and 



curator, Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American 



Museum of Natural History 



Painting by Ely Kish 



39 



