THE QUATERNARY PERIOD (1.6 million years ago- present) forms the second part of the
Cenozoic era ( 65 million years ago- present), it has been characterized by alternating cold (glacial) and warm (interglacial) periods. During cold periods, ice sheets and glaciers have formed repeatedly on northern and southern continents.
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| Quaternary Period |
The cold environments in North America and Eurasia, and to a lesser extent in southern South America and parts of Australia, have caused the migration of many life forms towards the Equator.
Examples of Tertiary Plant Groups:-
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| Birch (Betula lenta) | | |
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| Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) |
Only the specialized ice age mammals such as
Mammuthus & Caelodonia, with their thick wools and fat insulation, were suited to life in very cold climates.
Examples of Tertiary Animal groups:-
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| Procoptodon |
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| Diprotodon |
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| Deinotherium |
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| Australopithecus |
Humans developed throughout and Pleistocene period (1.6 million- 10,000 years ago) in Africa and migrated northward into Europe and Asia, Modern humans, Homo sapiens, lived on the cold European continent 30,000 years ago and hunted other mammals.
The end of the last ice age and the climatic changes that occurred about 10,000 years ago brought extinction to many Pleistocene mammals, but enabled humans to flourish.
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