500 million years of life compressed into a browser tab. Watch Pangea split apart, an asteroid reshape the biosphere in seconds, and evolution branch into the tree of life.
Open any simulation — runs instantly in your browser
Evolutionary timelines, extinction models, and ancient life visualised
Paleontology simulations model the long-timescale processes of biological evolution, mass extinction, and fossil preservation. Phylogenetic tree simulations apply coalescent theory to generate random cladograms and compare them to molecular-clock estimates, showing how genetic divergence times are calibrated against the fossil record. Extinction-dynamics simulators model species richness trajectories under different kill-curve parameterisations, reproducing the Big Five mass extinctions.
Fossil preservation models simulate how burial rate, sediment chemistry, and tissue mineralisation affect the probability that an organism becomes a fossil and is eventually discovered. Evolutionary arms-race simulations pit predator and prey populations against each other under co-evolutionary selection pressure, producing Red Queen dynamics where neither lineage advances absolutely. These tools connect palaeobiology to evolutionary theory and the geologic time scale.
Each simulation in this category is built with accuracy and interactivity in mind. The underlying mathematical models are the same ones used in academic research and professional engineering — just made accessible through a web browser. Changing parameters in real time and observing the results is one of the most effective ways to build intuition for complex scientific and engineering concepts.
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Common questions about this simulation category
Every Paleontology simulation here runs free in your browser, letting you experiment with each interactive Paleontology model — trilobite evolution, dinosaur biomechanics, fossil stratigraphy and mass extinction timelines — without installing anything. Adjust parameters, observe real-time results and learn Paleontology online at your own pace, whether you are a student, educator or curious researcher. Paleontology reconstructs the history of life on Earth by studying fossilised organisms preserved in sedimentary rock, revealing how species arose, diversified and disappeared across more than 500 million years. The discipline connects directly to modern geology, evolutionary biology and climate science, informing our understanding of how living systems respond to environmental upheaval — including lessons relevant to today's biodiversity crisis.