What is the Great American Interchange?

When the Isthmus of Panama formed about 3 million years ago, animals could walk between North and South America for the first time. This caused a massive mixing of fauna from both continents.

Home/Prehistoric Periods/Miocene-Pliocene

Miocene to Pliocene

23-2.6 million years ago

The Miocene and Pliocene together cover a time of critical evolution for modern mammals. Grasslands spread, climate cooled, and the ancestors of many living species took their modern forms. Early hominids were walking upright in Africa by the Pliocene.

Fun Facts

✓Australopithecus, an early bipedal hominid, lived during the Pliocene.
✓The Isthmus of Panama formed during the Pliocene, connecting North and South America and triggering the Great American Interchange.
✓Giant marine mammals including Megalodon were declining by the end of the Pliocene.

Questions About the Miocene-Pliocene

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