Six-degrees explorer: food webs & evolutionary lineages
If two animals are linked directly by a food web or evolutionary lineage, it shows that route; otherwise it finds the shortest route through the classification tree (same group → larger group). Choose from nearly 2,000 species with full profiles.
Boasting the most powerful bite force in the history of terrestrial ecosystems (about 35,000–57,000 N), it was the final and mightiest theropod predator of the Cretaceous.
It is a small feathered theropod bearing a sharp, sickle-shaped claw on the second toe of each hind foot.
It is the most famous transitional fossil in the history of science, demonstrating the evolutionary transition from theropod dinosaurs to modern birds.
With a wingspan reaching up to 2.3 m and golden feathers gleaming on its nape, it is the most powerful eagle raptor of the Northern Hemisphere.
💡 Connection steps in everyday terms
- 🚇 Count the links between two animals the way you count transfers on a subway map — Tyrannosaurus rex → Velociraptor → Archaeopteryx → Golden Eagle (3 steps)
- 👪 As with a family tree, the closer the relatives, the fewer the steps — Hippopotamus → Blue Whale (1 step): the closest living relatives of whales are the hippos.
- 🐘 Ice Age animals link straight to their relatives alive today — Woolly Mammoth → African Bush Elephant (1 step)
Routes are the shortest paths calculated with the same rules as the explorer above (the atlas's lineage, food-web and same-era links).