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The extinction of many groups allowed mammals and birds to greatly diversify so that large mammals and birds dominated life on Earth. The continents also moved into their current positions during this era. The climate during the early Cenozoic was warmer than today, particularly during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Artist's depiction of the end-Cretaceous impact eventSince the 19th century, a significant amount of research has been conducted on the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the mass extinction that ended the dinosaur-dominated Mesozoic Era and set the stage for the Age of Mammals, or Cenozoic Era.
This category includes biological taxa of rank more inclusive than genus that went extinct during the Cenozoic era of geologic time, between 66 million years ago and the present, as well as genera and species that evolved during this time and persisted across multiple geological eras
Extinction Date Probable causes [2] Quaternary: Holocene extinction: c. 10,000 BC – Ongoing: Humans [3] Quaternary extinction event: 640,000, 74,000, and 13,000 years ago: Unknown; may include climate changes, massive volcanic eruptions and Humans (largely by human overhunting) [4] [5] [6] Neogene: Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary extinction: 2 Ma
The first known mass extinction was the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago, which killed most of the planet's obligate anaerobes. Researchers have identified five other major extinction events in Earth's history, with estimated losses below: [11] End Ordovician: 440 million years ago, 86% of all species lost, including graptolites
The Quaternary (/ k w ə ˈ t ɜːr n ə r i, ˈ k w ɒ t ər n ɛr i / kwə-TUR-nə-ree, KWOT-ər-nerr-ee) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the Phanerozoic eon. [3]
This species might be evolved some time before, up to c. 2 Ma ago. c. 1.7 Ma – Australopithecines go extinct. c. 1.8–0.8 Ma – colonisation of Eurasia by Homo erectus. c. 1.5 Ma – earliest possible evidence of the controlled use of fire by Homo erectus; c. 1.2 Ma – Homo antecessor evolves. Paranthropus dies out.
The Eocene Epoch contained a wide variety of climate conditions that includes the warmest climate in the Cenozoic Era, and arguably the warmest time interval since the Permian-Triassic mass extinction and Early Triassic, and ends in an icehouse climate. [49]