What Organisms Lived During the Miocene Epoch?
The Miocene epoch extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years ago. It is the first and longest epoch of the Neogene period. Being relatively recent in geological history, much of the Miocene flora and fauna was similar to today’s, except it was somewhat more primitive near the beginning and more diverse throughout, being that human beings have quickly killed off many of the unique animals that evolved in the last 20 million years. Since 49 million years ago, the Earth had been substantially cooling, but this phenomenon accelerated during the Miocene. At the start of the period, South America separated from Antarctica, allowing a cold Antarctic current — the Antarctic Circumpolar Current — to circulate around Antarctica endlessly, without any land barrier. This prevented ocean thermal mixing, causing extreme cooling in Antarctica and causing glaciation there to become continent-wide. The white ice reflected back thermal energy into space, further lowering the temperature. Because o
