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There is very little plant life during this period.
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First flowering plants appear- angiosperm
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Nearly half of the valuable mineral deposits in the world occur in the rocks of this period.
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Early reptiles resembling large lizards.
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Shelled brachiopods appear.
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Colonies of tiny invertebrates call graptolites flourished and vertebrates appear, fish did not have jaws or teeth and their bodies were covered with bony plates.
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First primates evolve.
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Species that did not evolve to survive extreme cold moved to warmer climate areas or became extinct (dire wolf & giant ground sloth)
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Himalayas develop due to uplifting caused by the Indian subcontinent and Eurasian continents colliding.
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Giant Cockroaches appear.
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Some scientists believe that human kind has caused mass extinctions of plant and animal species, polluted the oceans and altered the atmosphere.
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Small rodents evolve.
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Whoa those dinos are getting big & dominate the land- Lizard-hipped and bird-hipped appear- carnivores and herbivores have arrived.
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Swamps and forests cover the land.
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Coal deposits form.
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Homosapien (modern humans) appeared & are hunters.
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Many early mammal become extinct, clams and snails flourish.
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Flying reptiles called pterosaurs are in the air now.
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Impact Hypothesis- dinosaur mass extinction.
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Environmental change causes mass extinction of sea invertebrates (trilobites & eurypterids) as the seas retreat.
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Huge plants begin to develop, early amphibians form.
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Appalachian Mountains are created because of the collision of tectonic plates & savannahs form.
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The presence of stromatolites indicates that shallow seas covered much of Earth during intervals in this period.
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Mediterranean Sea dries up and refills several times due to tectonic forces and dropping sea levels.
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Trilobites appear.
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Ages of fishes, fish that can breath out of the water and spend time on land form.
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First modern horses appear.
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Eurypterids (sea scorpions), sea stars and coral become more common.
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Vascular land plants and animals, such as scorpions begin to evolve on land.
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Modern human developed agriculture and used tools made of bronze and iron.
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Welcome to the world of the Dinosaur! Enter the squirrel sized dinosaur & the first5 forest dwelling mammals appear.
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Ichthyosaurus are living in the ocean, new invertebrates call ammonite develop.
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Antarctic icecaps begin to form.
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Various species migrated between continents across land bridges.
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The last glacial ended and sea levels rose, Great Lakes formed.
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World wide temperatures drop about 4 degrees celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit)
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There is argument as to when this epoch began, some scientist think it began with industrial age in the early 1800's other think it began with the atomic age in the 1950's.
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Geological Time Scale
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Flying squirrels, whales and bats appear.