Poster: The Story of the Living

Quick Answer: The Story of the Living is a history of life poster that follows living things through geological time, from the first single-celled organisms to multicellular life, the colonisation of land and the appearance of humans, marking major evolutionary events and extinctions. It is used in biology lessons on evolution and fossils.

Life’s Timeline, Event by Event

Where a geological time scale names the intervals, a history of life poster fills them with living things. The story typically begins with bacteria-like cells more than three and a half billion years ago, followed by photosynthetic microbes that slowly added oxygen to the atmosphere, then cells with a nucleus and, much later, multicellular organisms. In the Cambrian period, over 500 million years ago, most major animal groups appear in the fossil record.

After that the poster usually charts a sequence students recognise: fish and the first land plants, amphibians leaving the water, reptiles and then dinosaurs, the first mammals and birds, flowering plants, and finally the rise of mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction and the late appearance of humans. Mass extinctions punctuate the story, and the largest, at the end of the Permian, wiped out most marine species.

The key teaching message is proportion. Humans occupy a sliver at the end of a very long line, and for most of the history of life, living things were single-celled. Asking students to mark where they think animals first appear, then comparing with the poster, usually shows how compressed their sense of time is.

Specifications

Care & Handling

• If the layout runs as a horizontal timeline, hang it along a corridor or long wall so students can follow it in sequence.
• Leave room beneath it for fossil casts or photographs placed at the right age.
• Keep it clear of doorways and coat hooks, where long posters get torn.

Applications

• Introducing evolution with a timeline students can walk along
• Placing fossils from the school collection, such as ammonites or trilobites, in the history of life
• Discussing mass extinctions and their possible causes
• Showing when plants and animals moved onto land, and the adaptations that required

Why Choose LabEquip

Biology and geography teachers often use it with the Geological Time Scale poster, which names the eras and periods this story unfolds in. Both belong to Educational Charts, and orders can be sent through the LabEquip contact page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What were the first living things on earth?

The earliest evidence points to simple single-celled microbes, similar to bacteria, more than three and a half billion years ago. Some formed layered mats whose fossils, stromatolites, still survive in ancient rocks.

What was the Cambrian explosion?

It was a burst of animal diversification over a few tens of millions of years at the start of the Cambrian period. Most major animal groups, including the ancestors of vertebrates, first appear in the fossil record at that time.

When did life move onto land?

Plants and small arthropods colonised land in the Ordovician and Silurian periods, followed by the first four-limbed vertebrates in the Devonian. Living on land required adaptations against drying out, such as waxy cuticles and later shelled eggs.

How many mass extinctions are usually recognised?

Five major ones: at the end of the Ordovician, in the late Devonian, at the end of the Permian, at the end of the Triassic and at the end of the Cretaceous. The end-Permian event was the largest.

How do fossils support the history shown on the poster?

Fossils appear in rock layers in a consistent order, with simpler forms in older rocks and more recent groups in younger ones. Transitional fossils, such as early birds with teeth and clawed wings, record steps between groups.

How is this poster different from a geological time scale?

A time scale is a framework of named intervals with dates. This poster tells what happened to life during those intervals, so the two are used together: one for the names, the other for the events.

Last Updated: September 2026