From National Geographic, I found this:
An ancient period of global warming spurred the world’s first primates to spread from Asia to North America, new research shows.
The article then went on to discuss mammal migration across North America:
Gingerich’s team concludes that the tiny primates first appeared in China at the beginning of an ancient warming period that began 55 million years ago.
The animals appeared in Europe slightly later and then made their way to North America 20,000 years into the warming event.
"So you have a suggestion that it’s appearing earlier in China than in Europe, and earlier in Europe than in North America," Gingerich said.
In addition, he says, the Chinese animals appear to be more primitive than the European ones, which in turn appear more primitive than North American specimens.
Well, this blog is not generally in the topic of discussing mammalian migrations as a general theme, but one thing did catch my eye:
Ancient Global Warming
The ancient global warming period, known to scientists as the Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum, lasted approximately 100,000 years.
During the first 20,000 years, the Earth warmed by about 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) before returning to previous levels.
Gee, something positive from a warming trend happened?
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