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Evolution Explore an Era > Paleozoic Era-Visible Life Mezozoic Era - Age of Reptiles Cenozoic Era - Age of Mammals
Explore an Epoch > -Paleocene- -Eocene- -Oligocene- -Miocene- -Pliocene- -Pleistocene- -Holocene-
Holocene 38 - 24 million years ago

New Species:
Horses, Dogs, Monkeys, Bears

Climate
Cooling
trend
Geology
Continents begin to take
a modern shape
Flora
Broad leaf forests
become common
Fauna
Mammals begin to dominate
Hominids
None
What
was the
Delaware
Bay like?

A cooling trend prevalent throughout the Oligocene period affected the lives and habitats of many organisms. In the oceans, marine life capable of withstanding cooler temperatures congregated to places further from the warmer equator. The cooling trend was also responsible for a reduced diversity in marine plankton, the foundation of the food chain.

On land, mammals such as horses, deer, camel, elephants, cats, dogs, and primates begin to dominate. Broad-leaved evergreen plants become increasingly confined to lower latitudes in Eurasia, and broad-leaved forest becomes common over large regions of the Northern Hemisphere.