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					| Cenozoic Life |  
					| Lecture 26 5/13/98
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					| |  | Today we have a quick overview  of the Cenozoic Era. This era covers 65 million years and record the development of modern faunas and features on the earth. | 
 |  | The extinction of the dinosaurs opened up opportunities for the mammals to radiate. | 
 |  | The fossil record for the Cenozoic is much better than earlier eras, allowing us to see evolution of live and the planet in much greater detail. | 
 |  | North America & Europe connected | 
 |  | South America, Africa, Australia separate | 
 |  | connecting Africa and Europe | 
 |  | connecting North America and South America | 
 |  | number of families increases from 8 to 70 | 
 |  | plants that thrive with grazing | 
 |  | North American faunas to South America (& vice versa) | 
 |  | European & Asian faunas to Africa ( & vice versa) | 
 |  | At least 17 times in the last 2 million years | 
 |  | Sheets of ice extending over the continents | 
 |  | generate many of the land forms that we see today | 
 |  | Extinction of large Mammals in North America | 
 |  | occur around the time that man shows up on the continent | 
 |  | possibly related to ice ages | 
 
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