five major ice ages · All Facts

five major ice ages
Earth has experienced at least five major ice ages over the past 2.4 billion years. The one people commonly refer to — the Pleistocene glaciation — began roughly 2.6 million years ago and technically continues today.
SrcGeological Society of America

Next evidence →glacial lakesWhen the ice sheets melted at the end of the last Ice Age, massive glacial lakes formed behind ice dams. When these dams broke, they unleashed catastrophic "megafloods" — the Missoula Floods carved the Channeled Scablands of Washington state in days.

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ElasmotheriumThe Elasmotherium, nicknamed the "Siberian unicorn," was a massive Ice Age rhino that stood 6 feet at the shoulder and may have carried a single enormous horn up to 3 feet long. It survived until roughly 29,000 years ago.
Last Glacial MaximumDuring the Last Glacial Maximum (roughly 26,000–19,000 years ago), ice sheets up to 2 miles thick covered most of Canada, northern Europe, and Scandinavia. Sea levels dropped 400 feet, exposing vast areas of continental shelf.
Cave lionsCave lions were about 25% larger than modern African lions and roamed from Europe to Alaska across the Bering Land Bridge. Prehistoric cave paintings in France's Chauvet Cave depict them hunting in packs without manes.
originated in North AmericaHorses actually originated in North America around 55 million years ago and crossed the Bering Land Bridge into Asia. They went extinct in the Americas roughly 10,000 years ago and were only reintroduced by Spanish colonizers in the 1500s.

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