Cenozoic

01Cenozoic

They lived not on endless ice, but in a wind-shaped grassland ecosystem.

02Cenozoic

Its enormous canines were only part of the weapon; the real power lay in exceptionally strong forelimbs.

16Cenozoic

Its hand-sized teeth belonged to a giant shark specialized in hunting marine mammals.

20Cenozoic

Standing on its hind legs, this elephant-sized sloth could reach high branches with huge claws.

21Cenozoic

A domed shell of fused armor protected this car-sized relative of armadillos.

22Cenozoic

The largest deer antlers known were seasonal structures for display and competition.

23Cenozoic

A heavy-jawed canid hunted the large herbivores of Ice Age America.

60Cenozoic

The largest known snake moved through hot tropical swamps after the dinosaurs vanished.

61Cenozoic

A tall flightless predator used a deep hooked beak to strike prey on the ground.

62Cenozoic

One of the largest flying birds rode rising air above open South American plains.

63Cenozoic

The largest known land mammal was a hornless rhinoceros relative built to browse high foliage.

64Cenozoic

Knob-like skull horns and long canines crowned this rhinoceros-sized herbivore.

65Cenozoic

This long-bodied early whale still carried tiny external hind limbs.

66Cenozoic

Huge teeth in both jaws armed a macropredatory sperm whale.

67Cenozoic

Ever-growing saber canines evolved independently in this marsupial relative.

68Cenozoic

This long-necked hoofed mammal belonged to a uniquely South American lineage.

69Cenozoic

A heavy-bodied native ungulate grazed and browsed beside Ice Age giants.

70Cenozoic

This enormous grazing rhinoceros probably supported a large horn on its forehead.

71Cenozoic

A thick coat and flattened horn equipped this rhinoceros for cold, dry mammoth steppe.

92Cenozoic

Long clawed forelimbs made this horse relative walk on its knuckles.

93Cenozoic

A huge deep-skulled omnivore belonged to the entelodonts, not to true pigs.

94Cenozoic

A spiked tail club completed the armor of this giant glyptodont.

95Cenozoic

The largest known terrestrial lizard was a giant relative of monitor lizards.

96Cenozoic

A broad face, forward-looking eyes and single-toed feet distinguished this giant kangaroo.

97Cenozoic

This black-bear-sized beaver had ridged teeth and depended on extensive wetlands.

111Cenozoic

Nearly everything known directly comes from one enormous skull, leaving the body unusually uncertain.

112Cenozoic

It resembled a rhinoceros but belonged to the extinct brontotheres and carried paired nasal horns.

113Cenozoic

A massive body, broad feet and four ossicones made this giraffid resemble both deer and cattle.

114Cenozoic

Short blade-like canines, long forelimbs and a sloping back suited pursuit of large prey.

115Cenozoic

Ice Age art usually shows this immense cat without the heavy mane of many modern male lions.

116Cenozoic

Without large predators, this heavy island rabbit evolved small ears and lost efficient hopping.

140Cenozoic

Two enormous hollow nasal horns and a smaller rear pair belonged to an embrithopod, not a rhinoceros.

154Cenozoic

Fan-shaped leaves and paired ovules continued the ginkgo body plan in a species that did not survive to the present.

176Cenozoic

Strong limbs could still bear weight, yet long feet paddled through water and the ear region was adapting to underwater sound.

177Cenozoic

Bundles of enamel-wrapped tooth columns and broad limbs helped it crop aquatic plants in tidal flats and shallow water.

178Cenozoic

Rear-shifted nostrils and four tusks document a distinctive skull; a short trunk is a soft-tissue reconstruction inferred from the bones.

179Cenozoic

This rhinoceros-sized marsupial clipped plants with two forward incisors and moved between seasonal water sources.

180Cenozoic

This two-meter flightless bird had a deep jaw and powerful legs, probably feeding on soft leaves, fruit and shoots.

196Cenozoic

Queens reached about seven centimeters long with a 16-centimeter wingspan, among the largest hymenopterans known.

197Cenozoic

A nearly complete impression preserves venation, legs, antennae and mouthparts, making it one of the finest fossil butterflies.

198Cenozoic

This robust fossil vespid combines traits recalling modern hornets and paper wasps, and may already have lived socially.

199Cenozoic

Its leaflike abdomen closely matches foliage, proving that sophisticated mimicry existed at least 47 million years ago.

200Cenozoic

Amber sealed an extinct mason-bee relative whose long hind-leg hairs show that it actively collected and transported pollen.

241Cenozoic

Tapir-sized and short-faced, it lived before proboscideans acquired the elephant's long trunk and giant body.

242Cenozoic

A widened jaw and flattened lower tusks formed a shovel-like cutting edge for tough vegetation.

243Cenozoic

Only the lower jaw carried tusks, curving downward beneath a body taller than most modern elephants.

244Cenozoic

Two upper and two lower tusks gave its elongated head a four-tusked profile absent from living elephants.

245Cenozoic

A long skull held powerful jaw muscles, while slicing molars evolved independently from carnivoran carnassials.

246Cenozoic

A bear-heavy torso combined with a dog-like long skull and tail, inspiring the name bear-dog.

247Cenozoic

A skull nearly half a meter long and robust shearing teeth placed it among the largest terrestrial mammalian carnivores.

248Cenozoic

Dense bones helped it submerge and long claws anchored it on the bottom—an extraordinary marine experiment among ground sloths.

249Cenozoic

It may have approached a tonne, with giant incisors capable of generating exceptional bite forces.

250Cenozoic

Its estimated wingspan exceeded six meters, while bony pseudoteeth lined a beak adapted to slippery marine prey.

291Cenozoic

Long hind legs and a balancing tail powered a distinctive hopping gait through the forest floor.

292Cenozoic

This giant flightless bird had a massive beak, but evidence favors a mainly herbivorous diet.

293Cenozoic

Hoof-like toes and a large predatory skull belonged to a carnivorous mammal with no modern equivalent.

294Cenozoic

Its body still walked on land, while a distinctive ear region identified it as an early whale.

295Cenozoic

A streamlined whale body still carried tiny external hind limbs with no walking function.

296Cenozoic

A broad hollow nasal ram rose from the skull of this immense brontothere.

297Cenozoic

A forked Y-shaped nasal horn joined two brow horns in the most elaborate protoceratid display.

298Cenozoic

Short legs and a barrel body gave this grazing rhinoceros a hippo-like outline.

299Cenozoic

Thick hide reinforced by tiny bony nodules protected this large ground sloth.

300Cenozoic

Huge curved claws belonged to a forest browser whose name is tied to Thomas Jefferson.

319Cenozoic

Schools of herring-like fish were sealed into fine lake sediments.

335Cenozoic

Its near-condor wings paired with feet and a bill suited to taking live prey.

337Cenozoic

A strong flyer belonged near lineages whose living members are mostly flightless.

341Cenozoic

Deep jaws and slicing teeth suggest an ancient kangaroo relative that ate meat.

342Cenozoic

A bear-like carnivore used powerful jaws to pry and crush shellfish.

343Cenozoic

Long limbs converged on cheetah proportions, but its closest ties were to cougars.

344Cenozoic

Grasping feet and flexible shoulders reveal a large climbing marsupial.

358Cenozoic

Its wedge-shaped skull belonged to an ancient amphibian lineage separate from frogs and salamanders.

378Cenozoic

Its skeleton was once mistaken for a human killed in the biblical flood.

379Cenozoic

Tiny ear canals in the forelegs show that it heard ultrasonic calls.

404Cenozoic

Its pleated bell cap may have deliquesced like a modern inkcap.

405Cenozoic

A golden-brown cap retained three-dimensional gills in amber.

406Cenozoic

Radial striations remained visible across a minute translucent cap.

451Cenozoic

A shell nearly two meters long came from hot wetlands soon after the dinosaur extinction.

452Cenozoic

A skull over a meter long belonged to a dominant Miocene caiman.

459Cenozoic

Three meters tall with a massive beak, it was among the heaviest birds.

460Cenozoic

A seventy-centimeter skull and hooked beak armed one of the largest terror birds.

461Cenozoic

A one-and-a-half-meter penguin lived near the equator with a spear-like beak.

462Cenozoic

At almost 1.8 meters, it was a giant diver on a warmer Antarctic coast.

465Cenozoic

A bear-sized Caribbean ground sloth survived near the period of human arrival.

466Cenozoic

A mobile snout, huge claws and strange forelimbs belonged to a marsupial unlike any tapir.

467Cenozoic

A cow-sized wombat relative carried a broad snout and heavy limbs.

468Cenozoic

Three pairs of skull bosses and long canines crowned a rhino-sized herbivore.

469Cenozoic

A short face, tusk-like canines and grinding cheeks marked a herd-forming artiodactyl relative.

470Cenozoic

Massive jaws and rounded carnassials crushed bone, though it was not a modern hyena.

471Cenozoic

Huge cutting teeth came from a hyaenodont predator heavier than a modern lion.

472Cenozoic

A flexible proboscidean crossed many habitats and ate mixed vegetation.

492Cenozoic

Long jaws and a powerful tail let choristoderes retain a crocodile-like niche after the dinosaurs.

496Cenozoic

Massive legs and a deep beak belonged to one of South America's heaviest flightless birds.

497Cenozoic

A near-six-meter wingspan and bony pseudoteeth armed a giant seabird.

498Cenozoic

This fox-sized perissodactyl was a palaeothere relative, not a direct horse ancestor.

499Cenozoic

Short legs, a broad body and high-set eyes adapted a hornless rhinoceros relative to semiaquatic life.

500Cenozoic

Palmate branching antlers made this East Asian giant deer especially conspicuous.

540Cenozoic

Long legs and a strong beak belonged to a terrestrial bird with little or no flight.

541Cenozoic

A deep beak and massive legs made a heavyweight South American terror bird.

542Cenozoic

A lighter terror bird had long toes suited to rapid pursuit.

543Cenozoic

Its complete inner ear reveals sensitivity to relatively low-frequency sound.

544Cenozoic

Robust leg bones belonged to a giant flightless African bird whose skull remains unknown.

545Cenozoic

Five-toed feet and generalized teeth record an early radiation of hoofed-mammal relatives.

546Cenozoic

A short trunk and upper and lower tusks mark an early stage of proboscidean evolution.

547Cenozoic

A bear-sized heavy body and five-toed feet belonged to a pantodont herbivore.

548Cenozoic

A hornless, long-limbed rhinoceros was built for travel across open woodland.

549Cenozoic

A small hornless body combined traits near the early split of rhinos and tapirs.

550Cenozoic

A barrel body, short legs and large canines marked one of the first widespread large mammals.

566Cenozoic

A near-human-height diving bird preserves feathers and melanosomes that opened direct study of ancient penguin color.

567Cenozoic

A slender trunk, long bill and large flippers produced a taller silhouette than modern penguins.

568Cenozoic

A short face, low-crowned teeth and three-toed feet belonged to a European herbivore near horse relatives.

569Cenozoic

A horse-like head and enormous curved claws belonged to a herbivorous perissodactyl walking on its knuckles.

570Cenozoic

Only tapir-sized and hornless, it already possessed the short face and teeth of early brontotheres.