An Ice Age is a prolonged period of reduction in the temperature of the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth has experienced at least five major ice ages over the course of its history, with the most recent one being the Quaternary Ice Age, which began about 2.6 million years ago and continues today. During these periods, ice covers significant parts of the continents, leading to dramatic changes in the climate and significantly affecting the planet’s environment and life forms. These changes have influenced the evolution and geographic distribution of many species and have had substantial impacts on the planet’s climate systems and geography through processes like glaciation and deglaciation.
Advanced computer modeling reveals that sustained human hunting contributed to the woolly rhinoceros’s extinction by blocking their migration to new habitats during post-Ice Age warming,…
The brown bear is one of the largest terrestrial carnivores alive today, with a broad distribution throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast to numerous other…
The conclusion of the last Ice Age coincided with the extinction of numerous large mammal genera in North America, ranging from mammoths and mastodons to…
Earth scientists have identified a pivotal step in the Earth’s later climate development. Roughly 700,000 years ago, a “warm ice age” caused a permanent shift…
Geologists have uncovered evidence suggesting that the planet did not experience complete glaciation during the ice age that occurred 635 million years ago. Earth has…
A team of researchers, including climatologists and an astronomer, has utilized an enhanced computer model to recreate the ice age cycles that occurred between 1.6…
Environmental drivers such as sea level affect genetic evolution and point to where conservation efforts may be focused. What drives crocodile evolution? Is climate a…
Princeton scientists found that the Bering Land Bridge was flooded until 35,700 years ago, with its full emergence occurring only shortly before the migration of…
An unexpected discovery of a previously unstudied sediment core from Antarctica by researchers from the University of Otago has flipped our understanding of how often…
Researchers have finally answered a long-standing question over the role of Earth’s orbit in driving global ice age cycles. Scientists have been able to decipher…
Throughout the last ice age, the climate changed repeatedly and rapidly during the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, where Greenland temperatures rose between 5 and 16 degrees…
Gray wolves are among the largest predators to have survived the extinction at the end of the last ice age around 11,700 years ago. Today,…
The origins of ice age climate changes may lie in the Southern Hemisphere, where interactions among the westerly wind system, the Southern Ocean, and the…
Researchers discover impacts of Ice Age sea level changes in the genomes of Caribbean and Pacific crocodiles in Panama. Crocodiles are resilient animals from a…
When you think of fungi, what comes to mind may be a crucial ingredient in a recipe or their amazing ability to break down dead…
Manatees don’t live year-round in Texas, but these gentle, slow-moving sea cows are known to occasionally visit, swimming in for a “summer vacation” from Florida…
Curtin University researchers have discovered that a global ice age more than 600 million years ago dramatically altered the face of the planet, leaving a…
Researchers at Oregon State University studied the cause of the demise of the massive Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last ice age, looking for clues…