Paleogene Animals & Early Mammal Diversity

60Cenozoic

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

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.

93Cenozoic

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

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.

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.

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.

245Cenozoic

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

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.