GMW555's+Tertiary+Period+Page



The Tertiary Period  By: GMW555 Biotic

The biotic life on this planet in that time was very different from today. Back when giant mammals where dominant species grass began to evolve. Grass created a food source opportunity for grazing mammals to take off. There was also an abundance of conifers iint the forest at that time. The age of mammals started with the extinction of the dinosaurs. Before the asteroid hit, mammals could do nothing but stay hidden or be the prey the giant dinos. When these massive creatures left the earth everything opened up for the mammals. Cold-blooded reptiles called therapsids were the building blocks for today’s mammals. They lived as far North and South on Pangaea as they could with out freezing to death. They eventually began to adapt to the extreme temperatures. Their scales became soft and fibrous and eventually grew into hair. This allowed them to keep warm, but they where slowly veering towards the path of warm-blooded animals. They were the first the world ever saw. Mastodons or woolly mammoths are related to todays elephants. The geologists have very good knowledge about this species because they found one "frozen in time". A baby mastodon was found frozen in Russia, intact, and scientists could used this to explore their DNA and find out more about them. The dominate species back then was the smilodon, a type of saber tooth cat. They lived in groups and where kind of like wolves in the way they interacted with each other. They where relatives of the modern day cats. Arguably the most important new life form in this time where the first human relatives. They appeared about 3.2 mya and continued until now. In the Tertiary Period they progressively evolve up to Homo-Erectus. Then in Quaternary the eventually become us.

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