Cenozoic Period

Cenozoic Era

Period: Jan 1, 1901 to Jan 14, 1901

Paleocene Epoch

Jan 2, 1901

65-54 Million Years Ago -First large mammals and primitive primates -Dinosaurs were gone but reptiles remained -turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes -nocturnal mammals evolve into vast numbers of different forms

Oligocene Epoch

Jan 4, 1901

38-24 Million Years Ago -Started with a minor extinction, more mammals (pigs, deer, cats rhinos) -Expansion of grasslands and prairies
-30 mya- modern continental arrangement easily recognizable

Eocene Epoch

Jan 6, 1901

54-38 Million Years Ago -Rodents appear -primitive whales appear -grass begins to appear running animals begin to form- Equiidae (the horse family) -new species of shrubs, trees, small plants appear

Miocene Epoch

Jan 8, 1901

24-5 Million Years Ago -More mammals (dogs, horses, bears) birds, monkeys, wolves, deer -South American monkeys, apes in southern Europe, Ramapithecus.

Pliocene Epoch

Jan 10, 1901

5-1.8 Million Years Ago

• First hominids (whales) swam in the sea -modern form of whales -Time of global cooling -reduced tropical vegetation -Joining of tectonic plates of North and South America

Pleistocene Epoch

Jan 12, 1901

1.8-.011 Million Years Ago -First Homo Sapiens evolved -Mass extinction of many large animals and birds -Mammoth the Biggest Animal of Its time -Continents started assuming their modern positions

Holocene Epoch

Jan 14, 1901

-11,000 mya to today -Human Civilizations form

• "Little Ice Age" between about 1200 and 1700 A.D.
• Development of human knowledge and technology