History of Earth - Eocene Epoch - (Cenozoic Era)

			EOCENE
			THE EOCENE EPOCH 55 TO 34 Million Years Ago
			The Age of Mammals Global Tropical Forests asMammals Fill Land, Sea and Air
. . . with beautiful leaves and abundant fruit, providing food for all, giving shelter to the beasts of the field. - Daniel 4:21
Paleocene						Oligocene
\|-----------------\| Paleo-Geography
Continents continue to separate; Africa & India (an island continent) drift north towards Eurasia Pacific Ocean shrinks as Atlantic Ocean widens Climate extremely hot & humid; greenhouse conditions allow for tropical forests from pole to pole Epoch ends with mass extinction				Primitive Uintatheres (above right) at an Eocene lake startle a herd of tiny, ancestral Horses (Eohippus, above left) (Image: Palaeos/The Field Museum)
Life
Mammals flourish - primitive & all modern groups present Perissodactyls (horses, rhinos & tapirs) flourish as the artiodactyls (camels, pigs, deer & cattle) spread Primates (below right) proliferate Elephant, bat, rodent, & marsupial orders are present Primitive creodonts dominate; primitive carnivores appear Whales (below) appear in oceans Birds are top predators; many modern families appear Grasses appear but cling to river banks & lakeshores
		Primitive artiodactyl mammals returned to the sea and grew into streamlined early whales like Protocetus (left) (Image: Rob van Assen)

				Tiny primates proliferated in the steamy Eocene rainforests. The rat-sized Eosimias (right) had features of both lemurs and monkeys, and thus a step on the path to the higher primates, apes, -- and man. (Image: Nancy Perkins, John Hopkins)
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SOURCES: University of California Museum of Paleontology - Tour of Geologic Time Wikipedia - Geologic Time Scale Palaeos - Geological Time IInternational Commission on Stratigraphy By Corey Zak - CORZAK INTERACTIVE