Life Has a History: Level 1, p. 2

These are some of the living things on this planet.

Mosaic of life

Remember that the living things in this picture are only a tiny part of all the life on Earth. There may be as many as thirty million kinds of living things on Earth!

How big is thirty million?

About thirty million people now live in the largest city in the world.
When you are 57 years old, you will have lived for about thirty million minutes.
If you filled up a shoe box with Cheerios™ and milk, you would need about fifteen thousand shoeboxes to hold thirty million Cheerios™! (You'd also have a mess!)


Snail (Partula taeniata) © Carole Hickman, UCMP; Ferns (Blechnum spicant) © Br. Alfred Brousseau, Saint Mary's College; Spider (Lactrodectus mactans) by George W. Robinson, © 1999 California Academy of Sciences; Mushrooms (Armillaria mellea) by Dr. Robert Thomas and Margaret Orr, © 2001 California Academy of Sciences; Angelfish (Pomacanthus paru) Eugene Weber © 2001 California Academy of Sciences; Oak tree (Quercus durata) by J.E. (Jed) and Bonnie McClellan © 2005 California Academy of Sciences; Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus) by Gerald and Buff Corsi, © 2002 California Academy of Sciences; Flower (Fritillaria pudica) by Gerald and Buff Corsi, © 1999 California Academy of Sciences