Final Project - GEOL 102 timeline

1 CE

2 years old

Geological: present day -- well, calculated as 1998, but the difference is very insignificant
Koalas: The koala is now two years old, some koalas are lucky to live this long because of bushfires, poaching, dog attacks, deforestation, overbrowsing, chlamydia, or being hit by cars. If the koala has made it a full year on its own, the males will begin breeding season with older females. The females, however, still have a year to go before they are ready to start having joeys.
7

23.99997 months old

Geological: Beginning of recorded history
Koalas: No significant changes
8

23.99994 months old

Geological: End of last Ice Age
Koalas: No significant changes
9

23.988 months old

Geological: First primate homo
Koalas: No significant changes
10

23.9865 months old

Geological: Quartenary period, Glaciation in repeated cycles, emergence of modern humans
Koalas: No significant changes. Historically, koalas were hunted by the Aboriginal people of Australia for food. They were treated with great respect however. They believed that if you were to break the bones or skin a koala while feeding from it... the great spirits would come and put Australia in a drought.
11

23.984 months old

Geological: Great American Biotic Interchange
Koalas: No significant changes
12

23.88 months old

Geological: Tertiary (Neogene) period, global cooling
Koalas: No significant changes
16

23.84 months old

Geological: age of mammals, flowering plants are abundant, Australia and Antarctica split
Koalas: No significant changes
34

23.66 months old

Geological: Cenozoic era, Tertiary (paleogene) period, K-T mass extinction
Koalas: No significant changes
76

23.24 months old

Geological: Cretaceous period, Laramide orogeny, huge reptiles
Koalas: No significant changes
80

23.2 months old

Geological: early flowering plants
Koalas: No significant changes
104

22.96 months old

Geological: Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction
Koalas: No significant changes
105

22.95 months

Geological: Jurassic period, Nevadan Orogeny, evolution of feathers
Koalas: No significant changes
112

22.88 months

Geological: Dinosaurs become dominant
Koalas: No significant changes
130

22.7 months old

Geological: Permian mass extinction
Koalas: No significant changes
132

22.68 months old

Geological: Mesozoic era, Triassic period, Pangea rifts, gymnosperms
Koalas: No significant changes
146

22.54 months old

Geological: final assembly of Pangea
Koalas: No significant changes
156

22.44 months old

Geological: Permian period, insects take flight
Koalas: No significant changes
166

22.34 months old

Geological: early trees, formation of coal deposits
Koalas: No significant changes
170

22.3 months old

Geological: Carboniferous (Alleghenian) period, Alleghenian Orogeny
Koalas: No significant changes
190

22.1 months old

Geological: Carboniferous (Mississippian) period, early reptiles, leathery coverings evolve on eggs to prevent them from drying out on land
Koalas: No significant changes
200

22 months old

Geological: Devonian Mass Extinction
Koalas: No significant changes
214

21.86 months old

Geological: first land animals
Koalas: No significant changes
220

21.8 months old

Geological: Devonian period, Caledonian Orogeny, walking amphibians
Koalas: No significant changes
230

21.7 months old

Geological: Ordovician mass extinction
Koalas: No significant changes
232

21.68 months old

Geological: Silurian period, Taconic Unconformity, Jaws evolve
Koalas: no changes
253

21.47 months old

Geological: Taconic Orogeny, GOBE
Koalas: No significant changes
256

21.44 months old

Geological: early fish
Koalas: No significant changes
282

21.18 months

Geological: Beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon, Paleazoic Era, and Cambrian Period. Rising sea levels and the evolution of eyes
Koalas: No significant changes
284

21.26 months old

Geological: early shelled organisms
Koalas: No significant changes
329

20.71 months old

Geological: Ediacaran period
Koalas: No significant changes
365

20.35 months old

Geological: early multicellular organisms
Koalas: No significant changes
376

20.24 months old

Geological: Cryogenian period
Koalas: No significant changes
528

18.72 months old

Geological: Neoproterozoic era, Tonian period
Koalas: No significant changes
626

17.74 months old

Geological: Stenian period
Koalas: No significant changes
730

16.7 months old

Geological: Ectasian period, formation of early supercontinent (Rodinia)
Koalas: no significant changes
835

15.65 months old

Geological: Mesoproterozoic Era, Calymmian period
Koalas: no significant changes
939

14.61 months old

Geological: Statherian period, free oxygen in atmosphere
Koalas: most likely the koala has settled into a home range
1069

13.31 months old

Geological: Orosirian period
Koalas: no significant change
1095

13.05 months old

Geological: First eukaryotic cells
Koalas: Joeys already on their own are working on finding a home range. Hoping not to run into any dominant males willing to fight over their space. However they are still young. Females can't breed yet, but males don't stop themselves from trying.
1200

1 year old

Geological: Rhyacian period
Koalas: its time to say bye to mum. Koalas will go find their own home ranges, the trees they like the most, and the males will even start to look for mates if the season is right.
1304

9.97 months old

Geological: Precambrian (Proterozoic), Paleoproterozoic, Siderian period, Ediacara Fauna
Koalas: In the wild, there is a high chance that by now the mother koala has mated again. Once she knows her pouch is going to be prepared for a new joey, she starts to push her bub away. Acting aggressive and even abandoning the bub. But this is normal for them. All children must go on at some point. However, if the mum doesn't mate, the joeys can stay until they are just about a year
1460

9.4 months old

Geological: Neoarchian
Koalas: becoming more independent as they learn to climb and get leaf all on their own, getting too big to ride on mom's back
1669

7.31 months old

Geological: Mesoarchian
Koalas: Starting to leave the pouch for longer periods of time and begin to ride on their mother's backs. They've also nearly doubled in size because of the pap and are able to eat leaf, though they still nurse.
1878

5.22 months old

Geological: Paleoarchean era has begun
Koalas: The joeys have started peaking their heads out to pap feeding, the only way for the koalas to alter their gut bacteria in order to eat eucalyptus.
1983

4.17 months old

Geological: Oldest chemical evidence of life
Koalas: By now the eyes and ears have nearly finished developing, but the bub is staying safe in their mother's pouch. Only peeking out to see the world.
2087

3.13 months old

Geologically: It is the Precambrian (Archean) Eon, Eoarchian era, and the RNA world is thriving
Koalas: nothing much has changed within the month, they are just developing in mum's pouch, nursing on milk.
(Photo of a rescued joey, still in need of its mum. The Joey will need to be hand-reared by a volunteer.)
2139

2.61 months old

In geologic time, the oldest known earth rocks are forming. But relatively, for koalas, they still have no fur and their eyes and ears have not developed.
2400

New Born

Geologically: Precambrian, Hadean, origin of earth, moon, and oceans.
Metaphorically: Koala joeys have roughly 30 days of gestation before being born and crawling to their mother's pouch. At this age they are as small as a jelly bean.