| Paleocene | |||||||||
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| Previous period Cretaceous |
Following period Eocene. | ||||||||
. The Paleocene is an epoch in Earth's history. It is the first epoch of the Paleogene period and the Cenozoic Era. It was preceded by the Cretaceous and followed by the Eocene epoch. It happened after the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event that wiped out the dinosaurs and other animals, though some did survive such as Purgatorius, the oldest known primate. Huge reptiles like crocodiles and turtles dominated the swamps at the time, just like their dinosaur predecessors.
Geology and Climate[]
Just like in the preceding Cretaceous period, the climate at the time was warm and tropical, far warmer than it is today. This even allowed reptiles like the 13 metre long boid snake Titanoboa to grow huge.
Possible Surviving Dinosaurs[]
Though birds are the only dinosaurs still alive, there have been some cases of fossils of non-avian specimens that appeared after the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Event, such as a femur of a hadrosaur. There was also a case of some remains dating 40,000 years after the extinction.