Pleistocene

Winter is coming!

The Pleistocene, whose name is composed of the Greek words pleistos (most) and kainos (new), is characterised by the periodic alternation between stable warm climates and cold periods, the ice ages. The first of these cold periods, which occurred about 2.5 million years ago, is now generally accepted as the beginning of the Pleistocene.

During the cold phases of the Pleistocene, which lasted a total of almost 40,000 years, huge glaciers formed, starting from the North Pole and South Pole and reaching as far as the heights of New York and London. Mammoths, woolly rhinos, giant deer, and cave lions dominated the icy expanses. These gigantic animals died out at the end of the last ice age about 10, 000 years ago, and Homo sapiens conquered the world.

During the warmer phases of the Pleistocene, most of the animal and plant species we know today evolved both on land and in the sea. The fish we know today, as well as all the sharks and whales living today, also evolved during this time and rose as rulers of the seas.