Tertiary Mammals

After the dinosaurs, many niches were left in the ecosystems. These niches would soon be filled
by mammals. The dinosaurs were somewhat gone. They had evolved into birds. Mammals
evolved into the largest animals on earth since the dinosaurs.
Land Carnivores
Large carnivores returned to the forests about 5 million years after the K-T Extinction. These
large carnivores were Terror Birds. Terror Birds were massive flightless birds that pursued prey
through the jungles that covered the earth. These birds were as tall as a man and weighed about
the same. Gastornis and Diatryma preyed on horses
like Propalaeotherium and rodents like Leptictidium. By about 45mya, a new group of
mammalian carnivores had evolved: the Creodonts and Mesonychids. Creodonts were dog-like
or cat-like carnivores with hooves. They were very unspecialized. They became the largest
group of carnivores in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. In jungles,
large Entelodons, Sarkastodons, Andrewsarchus, and Hyaenodons flourished. By 35mya, the
Creodonts had vanished. Massive climate changes killed most of them, and the others were
beaten out of the food chain by the new carnivores: dogs and cats. Miacis and Amphicyon were
small carnivores that had sat in the shadow of the large Mesonychids and Creodonts for 5 million
years. Then, large fields replaced the dense jungles that covered the world. Dogs were quicker
than Creodonts and worked together to bring down large prey like elephants, brontotheres,
rhinos, and horses. Some dogs, like Borophagus and Epicyon, became massive enough to hunt
the mega fauna. While cats became ambush predators. Cats evolved into Sabertooths and used
their large teeth to crush an animal's trachea. In South America, Smilodon became the largest
carnivore and eventually beat out the Terror Birds. Marsupial carnivores evolved on Australia
and South America and took over. Not all carnivores were large though. Mustelids like weasels
and otters became scavengers. Potamotherium was a primitive Mustelid that scavenged in the
fields and forests. Eventually, bears like Chapalmalania and Agriotherium evolved and became
large carnivores in Europe and North America. Large carnivores were rulers of the earth until
they were replaced by an even bigger carnivore: humans.
Land Herbivores
Since the earth was covered in lush jungles, herbivores were small creatures that did not graze.
Instead they scurried through the undergrowth and usually fed at night (when the predators were
asleep). Horses were one of the earliest mammals to evolve during the Tertiary. Like all other
mammals, they had toes not hooves. They were about three feet long and scurried around with
the early rodents. At about 35mya, the forests were disappearing and being replaced by open
fields. Horses grew hooves and grew taller. Pliohippus was a grazer instead of a rooter like
Hyracotherium and Palaeotherium. Also, elephants like Eritherium, hippos like Prorastomus,
rhinos like Indricotherium, brontotheres like Brontotherium, pantodonts like Barylambda,
chalicotheres like Ancylotherium, giraffes like Sivatherium, gazelles like Hoplitomeryx, and
cows like Tsaidamotherium dominated the plains. By the Miocene epoch, massive mammalian
herbivores rose. At the end of the Tertiary, mammals had to adapt to the continually cooling
climates. Xenarthrans, anteaters and sloths, evolved into human-sized herbivores. Monotremes,
egg-laying mammals, set up on Australia. Elephants, rhinos, horses, bears, dogs, cats, etc. had to
evolve heavier coats to cope with the new temperatures. Gomphotheres evolved into Mastodons,
and Mammoths had evolved as the largest herbivores on land. Eventually, most of the
magnificent animals of the Quaternary were wiped out by humans.
Sea Creatures
Until about 45mya, the sharks had ruled the oceans again as the largest carnivores. They were
the undisputed masters until Basilosaurus came along. Basilosaurus was a carnivorous whale
that had evolved from dog-like semi-aquatic animals. Pakicetus and Ambulocetus spent some of
their time on land and some of their time in water about 55mya. Then they evolved flippers and
moved entirely to the water. In the water seals, like Ontocetus, and dolphins, Aetiocetus, were
also evolving. Massive manatees like Steller's Sea Cow lived in the coastal waters around
continents. Many of these animals were hunted to extinction by humans.
Humans
Humans evolved from small monkeys and aye-ayes from the early Tertiary (ex. Eosimias and
Godinotia)but they were replaced by late Tertiary forms like Oreopithecus and Apidium. Very
early forms of humans, Sahelanthropus, arose in Asia and Africa. Australopithecus, one of the
first humans, evolved in Africa. It learned how to use tools and stand upright. Human's
forehead began to protrude as they evolved. Homo sapiens appeared around 200,000 years ago
and are still around today. This species hunted many of the large prehistoric animals to
extinction.