Did dinosaurs exist during this interval?

Birds, which are avian dinosaurs, were thriving. But non-bird dinosaurs had been extinct for over 30 million years by the time this interval began.

Home/Prehistoric Periods/Oligocene-Miocene

Oligocene to Miocene

34-5 million years ago

The Oligocene through Miocene span covers a critical interval of mammal evolution. The world was cooling, grasslands were spreading, and many modern mammal families, from horses and elephants to whales and great apes, were taking their recognizable forms.

Fun Facts

✓Grasslands spread dramatically during the Miocene, driving the evolution of fast, grazing mammals.
✓The first great apes appeared during the Miocene, including early relatives of chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans.
✓Megalodons, giant sharks the size of school buses, ruled the oceans during the Miocene.

Questions About the Oligocene-Miocene

Other Prehistoric Periods

Triassic Late Triassic Middle Triassic Jurassic Early Jurassic Middle Jurassic Late Jurassic Middle-Late Jurassic View all periods →