Millions of Years

Each bead in this green string represents one million years, from the extinction of the dinosaurs to the present. Descriptions are taken from the short version of the Great Story Timeline. Note that some of the beads are identical to those on the earlier strings that represent the same event.

	65 million years ago (mya) - The "GOLDEN AGE OF TURTLES" in North America, as turtles that could hibernate in the mud may have been the only large vertebrates in North America that made it through the Mexico impact event. This is also the birth of TURTLE ISLAND - a Native American name for North America. The inland sea that had, during the Mesozoic, flooded the middle of the continent from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico is now vanished, revealing a single continent.
	61 mya - MAMMALS embark on a stunningly fast evolution. Within just four million years (65-61 mya) amazing new forms evolve to fill the empty ecological roles left by the dinosaurs. Hoofed mammals achieve glorious diversity, though they are still no larger than dog-size.
	57 mya - HORSE, CAMEL, AND DOG families arise in North America. ELEPHANT, RHINO, AND PRIMATE families arise in the Old World. WHALE ancestors return to the sea.
	34 mya - Paleontologists refer to this time as "The Big Chill." The sea ridge that connected Australia to Antarctica at a shallow depth disappears, giving birth to the deep Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A globally cooler climate and intense SEASONALITY develops.
	23 mya - The entire Miocene is the GOLDEN AGE OF MAMMALS, with an astounding diversity of mammalian species on land.
	5 mya - The Colorado Plateau is rapidly uplifted, which produces the GRAND CANYON and the geological extravagances of Bryce and Zion parks. 2.5 mya - HUMAN BEINGS (Homo habilis - "handy human") use stone tools.
	2 mya - GLACIAL ICE advances and retreats at least 17 times, with four major advances in North America.
	1.4 mya - humans (Homo erectus) domesticate FIRE.

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