Trying to Comprehend a Number

So today I was flipping through my Google Reader, like any other day, and an article jumped out at me. Like any other time I email myself the article and read it when I have a moment. The article was this. In reading it, I became fascinated by the number. So for a mouse to evolve into something as large as an elephant...it would take 24 million generations. My brain starts ticking, thinking about the meaning of this number, the logistics of having 24 million generations go by. I could not comprehend it. I cannot even start to imagine being able to trace a lineage that far back...But yet, wouldn't it be absolutely incredible to be able to? If something like that existed. Then I was thinking, wouldn't it be incredible for the human mind to grasp the sheer enormity of our entire universe, or even all of the stars that reside therein? Le sigh, something I would love to be able to comprehend, to even start to be able to imagine. Alas, my poor brain cannot begin to process that number and again, I am reminded of exactly what our existence means to the cosmos.