Picture it: The dinosaurs are gone. Their millions of years on Earth have come to an end due to a brutal mass extinction event. 

But Earth moves on, and the end of the dinosaurs does not mean the end of life on the planet. New dominant species, mostly mammals, now reside on a planet that was much colder than it had been in millions of years, in a period that began around 2.4 million years ago, known as the Ice Age.

During the Ice Age, ice covered around 8% of the Earth’s surface, and sea levels were significantly lower than they are today, around 40o feet lower. With the extinction of the dinosaurs many many years earlier, other species were forced to adapt to survive the cold temperatures and changed landscapes. 

Herbivores such as the famous Wooly Mammoth, the Ground Sloths and the Giant Bison roamed. Unlike modern Sloths, Ground Sloths were massive. They could be around 10 feet long and weighed about 2,200 pounds. Ground Sloths also moved on the ground instead of trees and could even walk upright on their hind legs.

The newer herbivores of the Ice Age had plenty of predators to try and survive. The most famous of which, the Saber Tooth Tiger, also known as the Smilodon, were ferocious hunters. Scientists believe that they may have hunted in packs, although this is still debated in the scientific community. 

Other predators of this time period included the Dire Wolf and Short Faced Bear, the largest species of bear of all time.

There was another predator that lived during the Ice Age, one that was incredibly close to Homo Sapiens: The Neanderthal. 

Sharing a common ancestor to us, they hunted in large groups and used tools like spears to hunt animals far bigger than themselves like Wooly Mammoths, and they created fires and made pelts to keep themselves warm. Their intelligence helped them hunt and survive predator encounters, while also fighting in conflicts with other rival groups of Neanderthals.

The Ice Age ended around 11,700 years ago due to changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt, resulting in the ice melting and releasing vast amounts of freshwater into the oceans, disrupting them. 

While most species would not survive, this melting of ice paved the way for the human race as we know it to rise up, and eventually become the dominant species on Earth.