Quaternary+Period

= ﻿Quaternary Period =

The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era spanning from about 1.8 million years ago to the present day. This period contains two epochs: the Pleistocene was its most earliest and the Holocene is the more later epoch. The total amount of continental drift was less than 100km. The continenst are basically in the same place they were in this period. Sea level was higher and since then it has lowered. This period saw a major ice age during the Pleistocene epoch.

=__**﻿Organisms at this Time**__= Large mammals and other animals surged during this time.
 * Wooly mammoth
 * Saber Tooth Cat
 * Columbian Mammoth
 * Mastodon
 * Coelodonta
 * Canis (lupis)
 * Dicerorhinus Kirchbergensis
 * American Lion
 * Arctodus simus
 * Bos Primigenius
 * Bison
 * Rhinos
 * Oxen

This period is sometimes refed to as "The Age of Humans" because //Homo erectus// was present in Africa early during the Quaternary Period. As time moved on, the hominid branch evolved bigger brains and higher intelligence.

Since the dawn of this period, whales and sharks have ruled the seas. microscopic plankton filled the descending rungs, otters, seals, dugons, fish, squid, crustaceans, and urchins also filled the seas. Plants in the Quaternary Period consisted of mored flora with successiv communities according to climate change. Conifers and decidious trees also thrived among this time period.

About 10,000 years ago the climate began to warm up and most of the "megafauna" were extinct. only a small percent of smaller, yet still very large in size, animals remained such as the elephants from Africa, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses. Scientists are still unsure whether the warm climate is to blame for the extinction of mos ot the enormously impressive animals of the Quaternary Period. The evolution of humans is also another theory as to why some animals became extinct due to all the need for hunting that was starting.