Animated Life: Pangea
Resource Type
Duration
00:07:36Description
This animated short video celebrates the early 20th-century German astronomer and atmospheric scientist Alfred Wegener, who first proposed that continents once formed a single landmass and had drifted apart.
Alfred Wegener proposed the idea of continental drift to explain why continents' shapes fit together like pieces of a puzzle and why distant continents have the same fossils. During Wegener’s time, the idea was met with hostility. But after his death, a large body of evidence showed that continents do indeed move. This evidence led to the theory of plate tectonics, which is a fundamental principle in modern geology.
This short video tells Wegener’s story using animated paper puppets and narrators.
An audio descriptive version of the film is available via our media player.
Key Terms
Alfred Wegener, continent, continental drift, Earth, fossil, landmass, plate tectonics
Terms of Use
Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-ESS1.C, HS-ESS2.B
AP Biology (2019)
SYI-2
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 4.1