The Cainozoic Era

Cainozoic

The Cainozoic, also called Cenozoic, is the era in which we live today. It began 65 mya, and so far only has two periods, the Tertiary and the Quaternary. However, these periods are further subdivided into epochs. Both the periods and their epochs are shown below. At the beginning of the Cainozoic the world was an empty place, and there was little competition due the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs. This led to the rise of mammals, and some of them grow to sizes to almost rival the dinosaurs. In-fact, the largest animal ever to live is a mammal, the 30 metre long Blue Whale.

Tertiary: 65-1.64 mya

Palaeocene: 65-56.5 mya

Eocene: 56.5-35.4 mya

Oligocene: 35.4-23.3 mya

Miocene: 23.3-5.2 mya

Pliocene: 5.2-1.64 mya

Quaternary: 1.64-0 mya

Pleistocene: 1.64 mya – 10,000 years ago

Holocene: 10,000 years ago – today

(Plasticine: only joking)

Please click one of the above periods to view the exhibits.

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