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BookmarkPerhaps nudged over the evolutionary cliff by a giant boloid striking the earth, the incredible and fascinating group of animals called dinosaurs became extinct some 65 million years ago (except for their feathered descendants).
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In their place evolved an enormous variety of land creatures, especially the mammals, which in their way were every bit as remarkable as their Mesozoic cousins.
The Age of Mammals, the Cenozoic Era, has never had its Jurassic Park, but it was an amazing time in earth's history, populated by a wonderful assortment of bizarre animals.
The rapid evolution of thousands of species of mammals brought forth gigantic hornless rhinos, sabertooth cats, mastodonts and mammoths, and many other creatures—including our own ancestors.
Their story is part of a larger story of a world emerging from the greenhouse conditions of the Mesozoic, warming up dramatically about 55 million years ago, and then cooling rapidly so that 33 million years ago the glacial ice returned.
The earth's vegetation went through equally dramatic changes, from tropical jungles in Montana and forests at the poles, to grasslands and savannas across the entire world.
Life in the sea also underwent striking evolution reflecting global climate change, including the emergence of such creatures as giant sharks, seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales.
For more information about the title After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Life of the Past), read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
Ice Age Mammals of North America — The time is the Pleistocene epoch, about 2 million to 10,000 years ago. Continent-size ice sheets cover 30 percent of the earth's landmass, and ... > read more
Sea Monsters: Prehistoric Creatures of the Deep — Sharks and dinosaurs, dinosaurs and sharks, we find them both alien and awe-inspiring, at once utterly inhuman and somehow irresistibly compelling. ... > read more
Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities: The Causes of Mass Extinctions — This is a book about the dramatic periods in the Earth's history called mass extinctions - short periods (by geological standards) when life nearly ... > read more
Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, And Earth's Ancient Atmosphere — For 65 million years dinosaurs ruled the Earth - until a deadly asteroid forced their extinction. But what accounts for the incredible longevity of ... > read more
