Ancient Introduction
Ancient animals flocking to the watering hole during the Miocene period.
Photo Courtesy of University of Nebraska State
Museum Twelve million years ago, what we now know as modern-day
Nebraska was more like an African savanna than the farmlands of today. If you were
able to travel back in time to the Miocene period (from five to 24 million years
ago), you would witness amazingly flat terrain covered by seas of grass, interrupted
only by shallow streams and sporadic clumps of forest. Much warmer than today, this
humid area was home to an astounding number of diverse animals. Observing these
animals, you would notice that many appear very similar to some of the animals you
know of today. The relatives of today’s horses, camels and deer, prehistoric rhinos
(known as Teleoceras), llama-like camels, three-horned deer, four-tusk elephants,
saber-toothed cats and the first single-toed horses roamed the grassy plains searching
for food. A visit during the dry season would enable you to see all of these animals
flocking to a watering hole for nourishment and to cool off. Soon their world would
change. What started out as a beautiful day would quickly turn into the beginning
of their end.