Eurasia



This is one of the coldest continents on the planet, and it always has been. During the Triassic it was squeezed into Pangea, the only continent at the time. While it fit in well with the other continents, it pushed up against North America, creating the Euro-American Mountain Range. Like most of the world at the time, Europe was covered in dense forest, although it wasn't exactly a rainforest. Due to Europe's colder temperatures, the northern forests were more temperate. The southern forests were more like rainforests, but were less humid than in other parts of the world and slightly less dense. In fact Europe's temperatures were unprecedented for the time. In Norway, the temperate forests even made it out to rocky beaches. The coastline of Norway lead directly to the what would become the Arctic Ocean, but at the time was clear, cool waters. Here temperatures rarely went above 9 degrees, and fog was very common. Here were very bizarre creatures, like †Nordjeger europaeus, a semi-aquatic Gorgonopsinae. Due to the colder forests Europe had different fauna than elsewhere. Temnospondyls and lepospondylids were the dominate freshwater predators, preying upon fish. The dominate predators were gorgonopsids. Most were larger than those seen elsewhere, and were terrestrial. The less dense forests allowed them to hunt dicynodonts on the ground and grow larger sizes. They faced competition with suchimorph archosaurs. Millerosaurs were also here, but mainly took on the role of 4-metre herbivores, like a giant herbivorous iguana. As the Triassic went on, Europe barely changed, though the temperatures did end up rising from 15 degrees to 23 degrees. This rose even higher during the Norian Hothouse Event. This caused a wide habitat loss in Europe, with temperate forests vanishing, and temperatures rising further. This eased with the decrease in volcanic activity at the end of the NHE. The forests returned in small numbers, and the temperature didn't change much. The volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic was enough to cause the temperate forests to completely collapse as the temperatures rose, giving way to rainforests.

During the early Jurassic, temperatures steadily rose. Then, during the Toarcian, Pangea was splitting apart. This caused the Euro-American Mountain Range to become volcanic. This volcanic activity effected both Europe and North America, but Europe was more severely hit. Temperatures rose enough to cause the rainforests to disappear and create deserts. Once Pangea had split, Europe was now a chain of islands, dotted in the sea. During the Oxfordian, the temperatures steadied and Europe became a tropical series of islands, drifted in the Boreal Sea. This caused a very drastic change in Europe's fauna. At least a north part of Europe, mainly parts of Norway and Sweden, remained attached to the Eurasian landmass. Here a mountain range was produced in Sweden, and with it came the colder temperatures. Here lived mountain dicynodonts, as well as the predatory †Basilocerops, the 'king horned face', the largest gorgonopsid known. However the islands were most of Europe. Several Polish islands were volcanic and one of the islands had a massive volcanic eruption during the Kimmeridgian, which caused climate change to the Nos Mountain Range (in Sweden). During the Jurassic the islands were very unstable. Due to sea levels falling and rising constantly islands were constantly disappearing and forming. One of these islands would one day become Wales. The islands had a full range of environments on them. Some were volcanic, some were deserts. Some were forest islands, some had high coastal cliffs. The fauna was able to adapt quickly to the sudden change, and most islands had their own unique fauna. This meant that entirely unique ecosystems, found nowhere else on Earth, constantly appeared and disappeared with the islands. The aquatic lystrosaurs were common in the waters between the islands. Some used specific islands to breed on. An example are the †Buwchmor from Wales, who used Cardiff for a breeding site. Younginiformes were also present in the waters, as well as a few piscivorous Weigeltisauriformes, who specialized in diving after fish like gannets. Also present were the gorgonopsids, who mainly inhabited the islands, although over time some did evolve slight webbing in the paws as they island hopped between different islands. There is also evidence of a giant hypercarnivorous rhynchocephalian that also island hopped. The other most prevalent aquatic animals were the Parahydrurgoidea, aquatic cynodonts that took a niche similar to seals and otters. Among the stranger organisms were the Ichthyobuthids, giant deep sea marine scorpions that could grow up to 4 metres or more in length. The islands were also some of the most violent areas on the planet. The colliding currents from Canada and the Tethys Sea caused very violent storms, like giant hurricanes. This could destroy and entire island with ease. By the late Jurassic Europe was firmly a tropical area, while the Nos began to get cold enough to produce snow. There was a sudden change in climate, causing the Nos to warm, along with the seas.

The Cretaceous got colder, which produced more snowfall in the Nos region. In addition, alpine terrain began to develop. The islands were starting to get large, and sticking back onto the mainland of Europe. This meant that the mainland was coming back together. In the alpine terrain, fossils of furry gorgonopsids have been found, along with many mustellimimids, also furry. It is figured that they evolved fur to combat the very cold temperature of the alps, which also held enormous glaciers. The cold season temperature was -40 degrees. The islands got colder, and storms were less severe. On the mainland, temperate forests, along with horsetail prairies were present across the whole landscape. Archosaurs roamed the prairies, along with gorgonopsids, which hunted anapsid reptiles, mostly the small millerosaurs. The cooling and warming cycle frequented, with each cooling cycle the Earth got colder, until by the Campanian noticeable ice caps had grown to cover the Arctic, extending into Norway and Sweden, covering the Nos Mountain Range. The European Arctic was full of a great diversity of pinnedonts, some walrus, narwhal, and sea cow like forms are some examples. In addition, small therocephalian fossils have been found in Norway, suggesting an Arctic Fox like animal about 0.8 metres long that fed on anything it found. At this time, all European gorgonopsids were extinct, and predatory archosaurs took their place. As the islands collided with mainland Europe, many small mountain ranges formed. Europe was now a very mountainous continent. When a sudden warming destroyed the ice sheets, the Arctic organisms moved up into the mountains, which had similar cold habitats. When the Maastrichtian Ice Age began, the Campanian Arctic animals returned back to the North Pole. The previous pinnedonts from the Campanian went extinct, but the metribosmimid pinnedonts lived up there, along with large squid. In Wales, mammalsaurs dominated, while the suchimorphs were top predators in Poland, Ukraine, and Germany. This remained into the early Cenozoic. More to be added soon...

The largest continent on Earth, equipped with the most diverse habitats on the planet. However, the Triassic is a very poor time for Asia, as not many identifiable fossils are known from the period. During the early Triassic, rainforests covered nearly all of Asia, was at a sizzling 27 degrees. Only the most northern tip of Siberia was free of rainforest. It instead had hotter than average temperate forests. Gorgonopsids were small and arboreal, feeding on the arboreal cynodonts and the small dicynodonts on the ground. Small, turtle like pareiasaurs lived on the ground, and fed mainly on a highly poisonous tree, called †Tensalde. This is a type of conifer that leaks highly poisonous red sap, which later becomes a mineral like amber when fossilized. It is thought to have detrimental effects on all animals, except for a few insects, the dicynodonts, and pareiasaurs. The stayed mostly the same in the Triassic, even after the Norian Hothouse Event, though the rainforests took over Siberia.

Like the Triassic, the Jurassic is not that rich in fossils. After Pangea began to break apart in the early Jurassic. Asia became mostly underwater. Habitats also seemed to have diversified in China. In North China, the Ziejang Mountain Range stood. This mountain range is some of the largest seen in the world. They hosted a huge variety of life. In the middle parts of the mountains was a temperate forest. Conifers filled the forest, along with a huge variety of bennettites, and tree ferns. The trees had an amazing diversity of life. †Pinusaurus is probably one of the most bizarre of the arboreal fauna. It is a pine marten like mustellimimid, who has clear adaptations for life in the trees. In fact, it is so well adapted, that it would have trouble walking on land, hinting that it may have lived entirely in the trees. They would hunt other arboreal animals, like the Weigeltisauriformes, as well as other, smaller mustellimimids. It would snow lightly during the cold season. The top of the mountain is permanently covered in snow and always cold. Many different mustellimimids and mammalsaurs are found up here. In South China, lies a desert, which is unusually cold and dry, similar to the Gobi desert. Here anapsid reptiles are surprisingly absent due to the colder weather. A cold adapted desert gorgonopsid, †Damfeldon, has been found, measuring only a metre long. Many different temnospondyls are known, but the best known animals are †Amphibodon, a small, possibly cathermal mustellimimid. It feeds mainly on the desert dwelling amphibians.

The Cretaceous is the richest fossil period in Asia. During the early Cretaceous, as temperatures cooled, a vast steppe grew across Siberia. Again it was a very cold environment, and mostly filled with mustellimimids. Across Asia at this time there was a rapid decline in gorgonopsids, though the ailurapodimimids and ursamimids still clung on to the corners of the continent. Very surprisingly, it was recently revealed that predatory suchimorphs took over their place in several areas, including a very large hypercarnivorous suchimorph on the Siberian Steppe, called †Cryosestos giganteus, showing that unlike what was previously thought, archosaurs, at least in Asia, ended up ruling the land. Researches originally thought that they hibernated or migrated, but osteological analysis shows that they did not do such a thing, and did indeed stay very active during the incredibly harsh and cold winters in Siberia. This proves that †Cryosestos was indeed homeothermic, though it is not known if other Asian suchimorphs exhibited such endothermy. Still, the Steppe did not reach the Agals, the Russian equivalent of the Himalayas, of Southern Russia. It mainly had temperate forests with very cold winters, and there suchimorphs are absent, making it one of the last places, apart from Inutilan, to find large predatory gorgonopsids. During the warming cycles, the Steppe would disappear, replaced by a horsetail prairie, until it cooled again.

The start of the Maastrichtian Ice Age had ice caps stretch out into Siberia. In fact there are a few arctic islands around at the time, the best known is Inutilan. During summers it temperature was, at its highest, -13 degrees, while during the winter, at its lowest, it got to a skull crackingly chilling -60 degrees. Although hydramimids were almost entirely freshwater, one species, †Anurocheirus vagatiensis, did become saltwater, adapted for life in the Arctic. While it did exist during the relatively minor Campanian glaciation, there is evidence that it may have survived into the Maastrichtian ice age. Deep sea diving expeditions surprisingly revealed that a fossil formation does exist where the Maastrichtian ice sheet used to exist, although it is very hard to find anything as it is in the deep sea, so mostly isolated fragments have been found scattered about. Along with possible †Anurocheirus remains, there are more definitive remains belonging to †Cryopanthera orientalis, the last gorgonopsid on Earth. More complete remains have been found in Inutilan. The discovery that †Cryopanthera have been found in open ocean areas, shows that, like polar bears, they will swim out into the open ocean to find food. More complete fossils of †Cryopanthera have also been found in the North Pole, surprisingly, in the ice, showing that they roamed the Arctic. It may be that they hunted arctic pinnedonts, but this has so far not been confirmed yet. Inutilan is considered to have a perfect view at the fauna of the Arctic. An enormous 12.5 metre hybodont has been found in Inutilan, showing that unlike other oceans, fish did take the role as apex predator. In Siberia, instead of a mostly snowless Steppe, it was a snowy wasteland. This is the case in the present day, making the findings of prehistoric fauna and flora here nearly impossible. In some areas, the fossil record is complete enough to show that arctic adapted spruce forests roamed, and, like the rest of Siberia, was covered in snow all year round. Here was evidence of possibly the most beautiful animals on the planet. Unfortunately gorgonopsids were absent here, but instead therocephalians took their place as top predator. Because mustellimimids were extinct everywhere but arctic, instead of them stoat like cynodonts roamed the forests. A few mammalsaurs are known, but it was so cold that even they were rare.

The rest of Maastrichtian Asia is better known. The cold desert was brought back in China, although now that mustellimimids and gorgonopsids were going, cynodonts, therocephalians, and occasionally archosaurs took their places. Further south, to the equator, hot, very humid rainforests boomed. Here, the fossil record shows a great diversity of mammalsaurs, some of which actually were more bird like. Cynodonts are also present, with one group, the Chiropteramimids, being especially diverse. A few therocephalians are known, along with herbivorous suchimorphs. The plains of Mongolia were also very bizarre. Mammalsaurs are present, along with many herbivorous archosaurs. Therocephalians are also present, with a particularly wolf like form, †Lycaenomimus, being regarded as the top predator. Average temperature was a consistent 25 degrees, with no cold season, thought there is evidence that wildfires were very common during certain times of the year. Somehow, as the severity of the ice age rose, so did the severity of wildfires.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">At the beginning of the Paleogene period, Asia was still gripped in the ice age. Possible fossil remains of †Cryopanthera are dated to this time, but the exact nature is hotly debated. As the ice age worsened, temperatures got colder. However a massive surge in volcanic activity occurred in Siberia, specifically in the Siberian Traps, which previously only minorly affected life in the Permian extinction, now had a profound effect on all life. Temperatures got more severe in Russia, with on average hotter, more severe summers, and much colder, much more severe winters. However, the landscape was truly devastated, when an asteroid impacted 65 million years ago. This wiped out nearly all Asian therocephalians, and most of the Arctic fauna was devastated. As the world was ravaged in the post-impact winter, the Siberian Traps became even more active, and as a result heated the planet with greenhouse gases. The ice caps melted and the world became a green one. Asia was covered almost entirely in jungle, from Japan, to the Arctic island of Inutilan. Unlike other areas, the paramammals did not diversify quickly, and instead archosaurs and squamates grew to gigantic sizes, like †Squamatus giganteus, an extremely large 14-metre long lepidosaur from Vietnam. The native Asian Chiropteramimids were in decline and the last genus, †Vietapterus, died out 62 million years ago. Replacing them were the weigeltisaurs, which diversified into a myriad of forms, including a large, nocturnal insectivore. However, by the mid Paleocene, the climate began to cool, and the second area on the globe to begin to cool was the Asian Arctic. The rainforests shrunk, and the giant reptiles disappeared. Chiropteramimids from Europe migrated back to Asia, starting in Inutilan, and when the weigeltisaurs disappeared, they migrated back across Asia. In addition, hybodontiformes, which have mainly been in the freshwater ecosystems, went back into the oceans surrounding Asia. However, this allowed the paramammals to rise to dominance, and they began to outcompete the therocephalians. By the middle Eocene, Asian therocephalians were incredibly rare, with many predatory paramammals taking their place. The jungles shrunk, but remnants remained in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Korea. 39 million years ago, a climatic rollercoaster rocked the world. In the span of 2 million years, the climate changed somewhere between 30 to 60 times, each time it changed it either cooled or warmed. At 38.99 million years ago, therocephalians disappeared from the fossil record in China. Many reptiles were hit hard by the constant change, and so did the plants. However, the most adaptable groups were the cynodonts and paramammals, who evolved forms that could handle nearly all climates, which meant not only a huge amount of diversity in a very short amount of time, but also being able to stay the same and still survive the climatic changes thrown at them.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">Here is when the largest fossil beds of cynodonts and paramammals are found in Asia. The Panda Beds in Southern China are famous for their incredible range of cynodont fossils. While paramammals were especially common, cynodonts were the most well preserved of the fauna. One of the top predators were the †Ailuruvulpes, a fox like cynodont that seemed to be able to adapt to all sorts of environments, and the ancestor to all Ailuruvulpids, so called "foxynodonts". Chiropteramimids were very rich, and a special group, the Angiodonts, coevolved with the appearance of new angiosperms. Most ate pollen, but some specialists managed to thrive on nectar and even ate the flowers all together. Exigudonts, shrew like cynodonts, also first appear in the fossil record at this time.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">By the end of the Eocene, the aptly named Eocene Thermal Mini-Max ended, and when the Oligocene began the climate gradually cooled. Asia retained just a few pockets of jungle, remnants of which existed in, again Vietnam and Korea. Paramammals rose to dominance. A few Asian herbivorous dicynodonts still clung on, but they were outcompeted by the gigantic Sauropodomimids, a group of paramammals that looked slightly similar to sauropod dinosaurs. Though in other parts of the world therocephalians diversified, they were all extinct in Asia, with their niche filled by the Ailuruvulpids. Temperate forests were common in Siberia and Japan, although in Mongolia vast fields of angiosperms dominated, and deserts conquered most of the Mongol-Chinese Border. The climate continued to cool, and as it did trees disappeared in the Asian Arctic, and pinnedonts returned in great numbers in the Arctic Ocean. In addition, Suchimorph archosaurs began to conquer the river systems, having outcompeted the temnospondyls to extinction in the middle Eocene. They preyed on large paramammals and truly anything that came close enough. By the late Oligocene, all dicynodonts went extinct, and Asia was now the home of paramammals, cynodonts, and the occasional archosaur.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">The Paleogene finally ended, and the Neogene began. Asia began to cool more, and the ice caps started to grow back in the Arctic. Pinnedonts diversified even more, including the appearance of Cryophysets, a group of sperm whale like pinnedonts, that are coastal animals, open water animals, and deep sea animals. They are highly dangerous, and feed on different animals, depending on their habitat. So far there are no deep sea species in the Russian Arctic, but there are open ocean species, which feed on fish and cephalopods. The coastal species are the most dangerous, and are apex predators. They will eat fish, but most of their diet consists of other pinnedonts and anything unlucky enough to be nearby. Angiosperms began to dominate Asia, and so conifers began to go in decline, except for in Siberia, where angiosperms and conifers lived side by side and had little to no competition. The Miocene went by quickly, as the Pliocene began. Here, Asia saw the evolution of much more advanced or intelligent animals. Paramammals, mainly the Petarsialia, had some of the more intelligent groups. By looking at the brains of living cynodonts, petarsials, and pinnedonts, it is thought that higher order thinking first evolved in the Asian variants of the aforementioned clades during the Pliocene. Self-awareness was thought to not come until the end of the Pliocene. As it got colder, angiosperms became more common, and began to outcompete many gymnosperm plants in Asia. However, in Siberia, conifers actually did better than angiosperms at cold environments, and so angiosperms did not radiate immediately past Siberia.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">2.5 million years ago, the Quaternary period began, and so did the next ice age. The beginning was very severe, but it could not rival the Maastrichtian Ice Age until later. The drop in temperatures expanded the Gobi Desert, which reverted back to its cold state. In addition, conifers began to vanish in small pockets of Siberia, but the year long cold didn't let the angiosperms past. The massive drop in sea levels caused Beringia to open, and North American as well as Asian fauna crossed the land bridge. The Selvivenatorids, a group of arboreal marten like cynodonts from Canada, migrated into Siberia, and did extremely well in Siberia, some evolving into almost flying squirrel like morphs. Some became incredibly stoat like, and a few even became aquatic. The ice age caused animals to shrink body size to retain heat, so animals became smaller, not larger. Paramammals flourished, with the appearance of new large herbivores, such as the woolly rhinoceros like Putidonta, which thrives in Siberia and can handle extreme cold. In the Gobi Desert, camel like Sauropodomimids evolved, and had to survive on the extreme cold the Gobi is. Elsewhere, evolved possibly the most magnificent ice age animal to have ever evolved; Cryoproboscidon. These are similar to mammoths, but have small or no tusks. They are closely related to Putidonta, but they were even more extreme, living in the Northernmost reaches of Siberia. They crossed Beringia and also thrive in Alaska, Canada, and Baffin.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">The ice age got more extreme towards the close of the Pleistocene, and the very diverse Xartchetia were outcompeted by the Selvivenatorids, and became restricted to Siberia and decreased in diversity, but were still very odd.

<p style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;color:black(255,105,180);">Today, in the Holocene, Asia is still a very odd and diverse place. Xartchetia are in huge danger of going extinct, but the Selvivenatorids, Chiropteramimids, Ailuruvulpids, and all the other cynodonts are still around today. Cryoproboscidon and Putidonta are still around, as well as nearly all (with some exceptions) of the fauna that evolved in the Pleistocene. In Siberia, there is a lake similar to Lake Baikal, and has similar fauna to it. The Ziejang Mountains now hold paramammals of all kinds, from the pterosaur like metatheridae, to the more bird like tarsometatarsalians. Remarkably, there are still remnants of the jungles in Vietnam that have been there since the Paleocene, making them nearly 60 million years ago. Many ancient animals and plants still roam, with the exception of dicynodonts and therocephalians. However the jungle is shrinking every year, as angiosperms become more common, so nearly all the fauna are endangered in some way. Japan is very mountainous, and here a unique species of herbivorous dome headed petarsial, Pachycephalodon, thrives. Afghanistan and Iraq are relatively warmer, but still have snow. The Red River, which flows in between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, flows out to the Mediterranean Sea, and has several kinds of coelacanths and pinnedonts. Asia is enormous, and is incredibly rich in animal and plant life. Many more species have yet to be discovered, and many more fossils still remain unknown. Currently expeditions have begun in Siberia and Japan to find more Triassic fossils, and uncover more about this incredibly strange and wonderful land.