格兰特知道人们无法想象地质时代。人类的生活完全是在另一个时间范围内生活的。几分钟后，一个苹果变成了棕色。银器几天后变成黑色。堆肥堆在一个赛季中腐烂。一个孩子在十年后长大。这些日常的人类经历都没有使人们能够想象八百万年的含义 - 自从这只小动物去世以来已经过去的时间长。
(Grant knew that people could not imagine geological time. Human life was lived on another scale of time entirely. An apple turned brown in a few minutes. Silverware turned black in a few days. A compost heap decayed in a season. A child grew up in a decade. None of these everyday human experiences prepared people to be able to imagine the meaning of eighty million years - the length of time that had passed since this little animal had died.)