Rendezvous 8, where our pilgrims meet the lemurs 65 million years ago, is the oldest rendezvous that takes place this side of the 66-million-year barrier, the so-called K/T boundary, which separates the Age of Mammals from the much longer Age of Dinosaurs that preceded it.* The K/T was a watershed in the fortunes of the mammals. They had been small, shrew-like creatures, nocturnal insectivores, their evolutionary exuberance held down under the weight of reptilian hegemony for more than 100 million years. Suddenly the pressure was released and, in a geologically very short time, the descendants
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