The Pleistocene Era Let’s set the scene. It’s a cold day. Freezing. The water is covered with a thin sheet of ice, which had been broken in many places from the beasts that were loping across, to a far away island. These animals were the Pygmy Mammoths, and they were going to the island of Santarosae, which is now separated into many different islands. When are these animals going to the island? During the Pleistocene Era, or the Ice Age. The Pliocene Epoch came before the Pleistocene Era, and the Holocene Epoch came after it. The start date and the end date of the Pleistocene Era are unknown. During the Pleistocene Era and the Holocene Era, many animals started to go extinct, such as the mastodons, mammoths, Sabertoothed cats, and giant sloths. The Saber-toothed cat was one of the animals that lived and survived during the Pleistocene Era. Vultures would follow them around, hoping to get a share of their food once they eat it, and they sometimes got some leftovers from his dinner. As you can guess from that, this animal was a carnivore. When a Saber-toothed tiger would be old or injured, he would attack a sick or weak animal. This is only one of the amazing animals that went extinct during the Pleistocene Era. During this era, the animal that was on the Channel Islands was the Pygmy Mammoth, that had changed, because it was isolated on an island. These are some of the amazing animals that lived during the Pleistocene Era. Resources:http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/pl/Pleistocene http://www.no-pest.com/Saber-toothedCat.htm By: Fid

Credit images to www.wikipedia.com This is what the ground might of looked like. This is an example of what a Pygymy Mammoth could look like.

It was a cold day. Very, very cold. The huge animals were swimming out to Santa Rosae Island. You could say that these animals were huge, but it would be an understatement. They were gigantic. They swam in the freezing cold water, not minding its coldness. Their long, shaggy, brown fur kept them warm. They were headed to this island in the distance for a reason. They needed a new place to live, a new habitat. A change of scenery. These animals realized the danger that they were just going to walk up to. Who knew what types of animals were going to be there? What if one animal had a venomous bite, and it killed all of them? The Pygmy Mammoth’s were definitely scared, but they knew that if they could make it through the endless water, then their chances of survival were already going to be higher. They didn’t know exactly what to expect, but they knew there would be food somewhere, and that there had to be some animals, somewhere on the island. They had no other choice but to keep on walking, or wading, through the water, hoping that once they found the island, then they would be able to survive. They didn’t care how long. They just wanted to get there. They didn’t have any other priorities. They were the only animals that were traveling to Santa Rosae. All of the others weren’t strong enough. As these giant animals walked, they estimated. How long is it going to take to get there? How many miles are left? How far have we traveled? They did their best to answer those questions as they traveled through the water. Some of the Pygmy Mammoth’s were dropping in the water, and drowning. All it took was exhaustion to kill one of these giant animals. It may seem surprising that all it takes is something like drowning to kill such a huge animal, but it can happen, and it did. It killed them off quickly. But the animals traveled on. They knew that there was nothing that they could do to save their friends, or family. They had no other choices. If they stopped swimming, then then they would drown. The Pygmy Mammoths were about half way there. Many had died, from either exhaustion or famine. They traveled like this for another week, until they reached the island. It was quiet when they got there. There were plants on the island, and some trees, but there were no birds. The Pygmy Mammoths lived on this island for a very long time, but they became extinct in a few thousand years. By: Fid

They were giant. Huge. Amazing. They waded. The water was freezing. But they didn't care. "They" were the Pgymy Mammoth. They were the giant beasts, the huge creatures, the amazing animals. They were going somewhere. Where? To the Island of Santa Rosae. They needed a new life. A new place to live. As they came to the island, they paused. It was big. Bigger then they expected. Bigger then them. And they began their new life. By:Fid Credit image to Chris Ballmer. This is what a skeleton of a Sea Otter might look like, after it had been eaten by many different animals, in the Pleistocene Era.