23 – 5.3 MILLION: MIOCENE

• Continents continue to drift to present positions;
• Africa collides into Eurasia forming the Alps;
• India collides into Eurasia forming the Himalayas;
• The Rockies & Andes continue to rise
• Mediterranean Sea dries up;
• Global mountain building cools climate; icecaps form;
• Almost all modern mammal & bird families are present;
• Grasslands, deciduous trees & shrubs spread;
• Modern carnivore mammals spread;
• Hominoid apes flourish and diversify;
• Isolated South American & Australian marsupials thrive;
• Kelp forests seals and otters appear in oceans.