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The Quaternary period is the most recent. There has been about thirty ice ages, however when there aren't any the climate is fairly warm. This is when Homo Sapiens evolved along with many other mammals. Mammals began to grow very large.
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This is the first epoch of the Quaternary Period. It is much longer than the Holocene.
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Island Park CalderaThe Yellowstone supervolcano errupted and formed a large caldera in Idaho and Wyoming called the Island Park Caldera.
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Pliocene EventsA supernovae called the Scorpius-Centaurus Association passed within 150 lightyears of earth. A stellar association this close to earth could have damaged earth's ozone layer and caused an extinction of ocean life.
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Mammoths
At about this time mammoths came into North America. They walked across the Bering Strait from Eurasia when the sea level was much lower than it is today. -
National Geographic
At this time a shift in the Earth's orbit caused the pattern of ice ages to begin. -
National Geographic
This is when humans evolved in Africa. -
The first proto-Neanderthal traits are found in Europe.
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Wisconsin Glaciation
The Wisconsin Glaciation began 75,000 years ago. This ice sheet is what made Nova Scotia. -
Extinction in Australia
Between now and 24 thousand years ago there was a major extinction in Australia. -
At this point, humans start to migrate out of Africa.
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Giant Wombat
The Giant Wombat, also called the Diprotodon, lived in Australia until about 40,000 years ago. It was the size of a hippopotamus; 10 feet long and 6 and a half feet tall. -
Saber Toothed Cat
The Saber Toothed Cat lived during the last ice age in many parts of the world including the United States. It was about the size of a lion and had two extremely large teeth in the front of its mouth. -
Sea levels dropped, creating a land bridge to form between Asia and North America. This made it possible for people to move to North America.
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Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas was a relatively short period of cold climate. It lasted about 1,300 years just before the Holocene period began. -
National Geographic
This caused sea levels to rise, the climate to warm, and many animals to go extinct. -
Climate change due to human activity begins to raise earth's temperatures.
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Dire Wolf
The Dire Wolf, also known as the Canis Dirus, that was most common in North and South America. It is closely related to the grey wolf and lived for about 1.8 million years. -
The second epoch in the Quaternary period. We live in the Holocene epoch.
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Late Pleistocene Extinction
At this time many animals went extinct across much of North America. Most of the animals were larger than one hundred pounds. Because of this extinction few large mammals live in North America. -
Wooly Rhinoceros
The Wooly Rhinoceros survived after the last ice age and went extinct with other types of megafauna. Some of the causes are thought to be human hunting, a climate change, or some disease. -
A sharp drop in temperature in the northern hemisphere caused crop failures. Dendochronologists have also found abnormally low levels of tree growth from around this time. The cause of such a sharp drop in temperatures is thought to be because of atmospheric dust, possibly caused by a volcanic erruption or meteorite crashing into earth.
