Grasses continued to thrive during the Pliocene. Ruminant herbivores such as Brontotheres still dominated the planet. Up until now, South America was separated from the rest of the world, and many strange evolutionary things happened with the animals there. For example, "toothless" mammals, or edentates, lived there. These included armadillos, sloths, and anteaters. These animals formed in no other place in the world. Another one of these was the colossal armadillo, Glyptodon. They grew up to be the size of a car! Today, Glyptodon exists only in museums. But smaller armadillos have spread all over the western hemisphere.

Pyrotherium, an edentate.

The armadillo, Gyptodon.

Cenozoic Era: Tertiary Period: Pliocene Epoch: Creature Feature