South America today is home to some of the most incredible ecosystems on the planet, and its fossil record is even more varied and fantastic. In this episode, we explore the history of the continent from its early formation to its long Cenozoic isolation, and we’ll highlight some of the strangest ancient creatures – especially its bizarre mammals – that have called South America home. In the news: ancient ape locomotion, a Polish pliosaur, post-extinction Colorado, and one really old dinosaur. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:04:00Main discussion, Part 1: 00:28:30Main discussion, Part 2: 00:59:30Patron question: 01:35:00 Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures:http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/ We're doing another End of the Year Q&A! Submit your question here: https://forms.gle/E398RmMhGvaYHpz6A The Common Descent Store is open! Get merch! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPCFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcast/PodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduw The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/