The Cenozoic Era

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The Cenozoic era started 65.5 million years ago and is still going today. It was divided into three periods. The Paleogene period, which started at the beginning of the Cenozoic era, ended 23 million years ago. During this period the continents drifted apart and looks similar to what it looks like today. The climate significantly cooled and dried during this period. As this happened, the sea level lowered as continents spread apart. The heating and cooling was followed by a large temperature spike. About 5 million years into it the sea surface temp rose between 9 and 14 degrees. Then, it cooled off over a few thousand years killing many of the single celled organisms that lived in these waters. This forced most mammals and other life to adapt