The Eocene is a formally defined epoch of the Paleogene Period within the Cenozoic Era, spanning approximately 56 to 34 million years ago, characterized by globally warm climates and high atmospheric CO₂ levels. It is subdivided into the Ypresian, Lutetian, Bartonian, and Priabonian ages based on biostratigraphic markers and magnetostratigraphy. The Eocene saw major diversification of modern mammalian orders, early primates, and marine fauna, as well as significant tectonic reconfigurations influencing ocean circulation. Notable climatic events include the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and progressive cooling that initiated the transition toward Antarctic glaciation by the end of the epoch.
A team of paleontologists from China University of Geosciences (Beijing) studying penguin fossils from Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula have demonstrated how ancient bird bones can act as chemical archives of past ...
Earth Sciences
6 hours ago
0
3
A new study from the University of Kansas complicates the picture of primates living in North America some 55 million years ago during the Eocene, a warm period that allowed mammals to diversify quickly.
Evolution
Aug 4, 2026
0
287
For decades, a 30 million-year-old fossil sat entombed in rock in an Oregon museum collection. When it was first found, paleontologists thought it might be an early relative of sheep, camels and pigs, whose fossilized skeletons ...
Evolution
Jul 29, 2026
0
90
Earth has a natural thermostat that has kept the planet habitable for more than 100 million years. Scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works, but new research identifies a missing link between phosphate availability ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 13, 2026
1
368
Scientists have uncovered new evidence from one of Earth's most extreme ancient warming events, revealing how the climate may recover long after human-driven CO2 emissions cease.
Earth Sciences
Jun 17, 2026
0
41
A fossil mammal tooth smaller than a grain of rice does not announce itself loudly. It must be hard won from sediment and stone. Then, under a microscope, it reveals itself—no longer just a speck of blackness but a surface ...
Evolution
Jun 2, 2026
0
27
New geological data indicate that marine life is somewhat resilient to warming in the tropics. Chris Fokkema, Earth scientist at Utrecht University, discovered that tropical algae were largely unaffected by a number of periods ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 1, 2026
1
174
Paleontologists at the Canadian Museum of Nature have recently been studying the skeletal remains of a rhinoceros. This might not sound remarkable at first, but what makes these remains fascinating is that they were found ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Feb 2, 2026
0
21
A new study using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) has revealed that the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago caused only a modest decline in shark and ray species. The findings, published ...
Evolution
Jan 28, 2026
0
172
Around 56 million years ago, Earth suddenly got much hotter. Over about 5,000 years, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere drastically increased and global temperatures shot up by some 6°C.
Ecology
Dec 1, 2025
0
55
