Cenozoic Era

Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to present)

If the Mesozoic was the "age of dinosaurs", then the Cenozoic has been the "age of mammals". The Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event occurred towards the end of the Mesozoic era and half the animal species on Earth, including the dinosaurs were wiped out. As a result mammals diversified to fill ecological niches.

• The continents moved into their existing locations, with Australia-New Guinea which split from Gondwana during early Cretaceous, drifting north and eventually colliding with Southeast Asia. Antarctica moved into its current position over the South Pole and the Atlantic Ocean widened and South America became attached to North America.
• \(\text{54}\)–\(\text{33}\) million years ago, Africa was an island, not yet joined to the Middle East and Europe.
• The climate warmed significantly until 55 million years ago, followed by long-term cooling since 49 million years ago.
• Many species of grass evolved from flowering plants between 33 and 24 million years ago.
• As the Earth cooled, grasslands began to expand and forests shrank.
• Animals evolved to fit the new, open landscape and many fast-running prey and predator species arose as a result.

It is during the Cenozoic Era that our species, Homo sapiens evolved into the anatomically modern humans we are today.