Text Box: Current Holocene Epoch   Text Box: 10,000 years ago Pleistocene Epoch Development of mammalian mega fauna Hominids use fire & tools At least four ice ages Land bridges facilitate human migrations Text Box: 1.8 million years ago Pliocene Epoch Climate cools, polar icecaps form Hominids evolve Massive Rift Valley eruptions (Kili) Text Box: 5 million years ago Miocene Epoch Himilayas, Rockies & Andes form First Yellowstone hotspot eruption Kelp beds and grasslands form; mammal diversity peaks Text Box: Pre Cambrian Era                 Formation of Earth & atmosphere; beginning of life Paleozoic Era                       Life explodes first in the oceans and then on land; nearly wiped out Mesozoic Era                      The age of dinosaurs Cenozoic Era                       The current era   Text Box: 24 million years ago Oliogocene Epoch India collided with Asia; glaciers formed in Antarctica Ungulates thrive Text Box: 35 million years ago Eocene Epoch The rifting of the Atlantic cut off North America from Europe, and South America lost links with Antarctica Text Box: Current times Text Box: 65 million years ago The Cretaceous Extinction at the end of the Mesozoic Era starts this era Text Box: Cenozoic Era 65 million years ago to present Began with the extinction of the dinosaurs   Quaternary Holocene Pleistocene Tertiary Pliocene Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene Continents collide, mountains form Ice ages recur  Humans evolve and thrive 1.4% of the Earth's history