What are Some Pleistocene Animals?
The Pleistocene is the name for the geological epoch which started approximately 1,808,000 years ago and ended 11,550 years ago. The most geologically significant aspect of the Pleistocene is that it represented the continuation of a cooling period which began several tens of millions of years ago and continues to this day. Throughout the Pleistocene were numerous ice ages, with ice sheets covering large parts of Eurasia and North America. Glaciers extended as far south as Hamburg, Germany, London, England, and Chicago in the United States. The Bering straight was passable for long periods of time, called the Bering land bridge. This allowed the intermixing of Old World and New World species, including the migration of humans to the Americas. The animals of the Pleistocene were largely the same as today, with a few dozen exceptions. The exceptions, of course, are what makes the topic interesting. Animals unique to the Pleistocene include cave bears (short-faced bears), mammoths and mas
