A Brief Overview of the Neogene Period for Middle School Science Classes
Dec 16, 2024
4 min read
0
0
0
Earth history is a fascinating topic! It is also a massive topic! The reading passage below will teach you all about the Neogene Period. If you want to learn more (and why wouldn't you?!), you can check out my Earth History page. I also have all of my passages available at Teachers Pay Teachers. They come with so many extras to get your students thinking about the content! I also recommend scrolling to the bottom of the page to check out my digital picture book on the Neogene Period!
Age of Grasses
The Neogene period was the “age of grasses”. Earth’s climate was cooling. As a result, the forests were replaced by grasslands. The new environment meant animals had to adapt to stay alive.
Moving Continents
The continents continued to move toward their current positions during the Neogene period. India continued its collision with Asia, forming the Himalayan Mountains. Italy crashed into Europe, creating the Alps. Spain pushed into France, forming the Pyrenees. In North America, the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas were also growing.
During the Pliocene epoch, South America collided with North America. Today, we call the land bridge connecting the two continents the Isthmus of Panama. Other land bridges connected North America and Europe and Europe and Africa.
A Cold Earth
The moving continents changed weather patterns and ocean currents. The continents stopped the cold water at the poles from mixing with the warm water at the equator. The poles became colder and colder until they were both covered with ice. The white snow and ice reflected sunlight away from the Earth, causing the temperatures to drop further.
Grasses
The cold weather meant Earth’s environments were changing. Rainforests were replaced with savannas, deciduous forests, taiga, and deserts. Most of the continents were covered with grasslands. Grasses do not have as many nutrients as forest plants. They are also tougher to eat. Animals that depended on the forests died out. Only animals that could adapt to a diet of grasses survived.
Ruminants
Horses developed strong teeth to chew the tough grasses. Other animals used more than one stomach for digestion. Animals with multiple stomachs are called ruminants. Modern ruminants include camels, sheep, and giraffes.
Herbivores
Herbivores also changed their behaviors. They started living in herds for protection on the open plains. They also migrated with the seasons because grasses stop growing in cold weather. Carnivores
As the herbivores changed, the carnivores had to adapt. Prehistoric dogs and cats developed strong leg muscles to chase herd animals across the plains. Powerful jaws and teeth meant they
could take down prey once they caught it.
Generalists
Some animals became generalists. These small rodents ate anything they could find. They reproduced early and often with large litters of babies, so they survived through the changing environment. Rodents, raccoons, and rabbits are all modern descendants of these generalists.
Ocean Life
In the oceans, Megalodon, the prehistoric shark, was still at the top of the food chain. It hunted fish, other sharks, whales, and pinnipeds. The first pinnipeds evolved during the Neogene period. Pinnipeds are sea creatures with fins for feet. Sea lions, seals, and walruses are all examples of modern pinnipeds. Whales, which had begun evolving fifty million years ago, became fully marine during the Neogene period. This means they only lived in the oceans.
Kelp Forests
Kelp forests became the newest habitat in the oceans. Kelp is a type of brown algae that grows in shallow ocean waters. It can attach to coral or rocks or float freely. Fish, sea otters, and marine invertebrates lived in the kelp forests.
Primates
On land, primates continued to evolve. Around sixteen million years ago, orangutans split from the hominid line. The hominid line includes all apes including gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans. Around six million years ago, chimpanzees split from the line.
Australopithecus
The first early humans appeared four million years ago in Africa. Australopithecus was the first early human genus. These early humans lived in East Africa. Like apes, they had a short childhood, small brains, and hairy faces. They spent time climbing trees but could also walk upright. They were smaller than modern humans. An average male was about five feet tall and weighed about one hundred pounds. An average female was about three and a half feet tall and weighed about sixty pounds.
Lucy
The first fossil of an Australopithecus found was a female that lived about 3.2 million years ago. She was found in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974. She was named Lucy because the team that found her listened to the song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by the Beatles during their celebration party. Later, scientists would find even older fossils of Australopithecines. The oldest
Australopithecine fossils are nearly four million years old. Over the next few million years, these early humans would continue to evolve into modern humans.
End of the Period
The Earth entered an ice age as the Neogene period ended. The climate continued to cool, and the environment changed. Some plants and animals survived the changes, but others did not.
Neogene Period Picture Book
Looking for another way to learn about the Neogene Period? Check out this picture book version. The pages are a part of my Earth History bundle on Teachers Pay Teachers.