Hi guys!! This is NOT the Ice Age movie, but the actual Ice Ages that have happened in the past.

I took a class this semester on the Ice Age and I have a lot of information to share if you guys want me to.

There were a lot of animals during the Ice Ages that are extinct today. Some examples of different animals are the Glyptodont, Sabre-tooth cats, woolly mammoth, giant ground sloth, and the Scimitar cat. I will give a summary of one of these: the Glyptodont. The Glyptodont was almost a literal tank. The Ice Age has not seen an animal with as much protection as the Glyptodont. It has a massive shell that weighs tons of pounds. The animal itself weighs even more than the shell alone, so the weight of the shell plus the weight of the animal makes it weight thousands of pounds. If you were to look at a picture of the Glyptodont (I will post one below this description) you will be able to quickly relate it to the turtle. Although their appearances are similar, it is more accurate to relate it to the Armadillo. Armadillos are the only remaining Cingulatas (same Order as the Glyptodont, meaning that the Glyptodont is an ancestor of the Armadillo) left in the world today. If that isn't cool enough, there is also some armor on the Glyptodonts' bodies. If THAT isn't cool enough, then you can see that their tails were shaped like a mace. A mace is a giant medieval weapon that was shaped like a spike-ball. One major downside about this animal was that it was really, really slow and traveled alone. Even though it had so much armor, a shell, and a tail it could swing around in self-defense, it was still killed and hunted by ancient hominin species (relatives of modern-day humans) and Sabre-tooth/Scimitar cats. The humans hunted with their wit and skill and the cats hunted with their strength and sharpness of the canines. That was the only way to kill such a heavily armored animal. One fun fact about the Glyptodont was that most of them had arthritis. Also, there were about 50 different species of Glyptodonts and all of the 50 different species had a different pattern on their shells.



Here is some basic examples of ancient humans I mentioned above: Homo neanderthalensis, Homo ergaster, Homo habilis, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo erectus. Not-so-related hominins are Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, Sahelanthropus tchadensis. I am not particularly as knowledgeable on ancient hominins as I am about the different kinds of animals.

There are a few theories for why Ice Ages are caused. One of them is the Maunder Minimum theory. What this means is that the sun does not give off as much radiation in certain periods of time as compared to others. Decreased radiation can cause temperatures to drop and become a lot cooler than one would think. A reason this could happen is called the Sun Spot Cycle. The number of solar spots on the sun can increase or decrease on average over a period of time. There is more radiation emitted with more solar spots, and less emitted with less solar spots. Another theory of why an Ice Age could be started is the result of major, catastrophic volcanic eruptions. The ash that comes from big enough volcanoes can blanket the atmosphere and block solar radiation. As stated above, with less solar radiation there is a drop in temperatures. There has been a major volcanic eruption that kick-started an Ice Age; that volcanic eruption was on Mount Tambora. A third theory is the composition/direction of ocean currents. More salinity = less glacier formation. Less glacier formation = warmer weather, etc. The flow of water can disrupt any deep-sea formation of ice depending on its direction. There are many more theories I could write about, but I've already written a lot, haha.

Fun fact: An Ice Age can start in as little time as 1 year. Judging by the new trend of global warming that is currently happening, it isn't likely to happen, however it would be really weird if it did.

Fun fact 2: Homo heidelbergensis was one of the first ancient hominin species to control fire. This was about 800,000 years ago in Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel.

Fun Fact 3: Woolly Mammoths are basically furry elephants, but did you know there was such a thing as the Woolly Rhinoceros? It was literally just a furry modern rhino!

I will try to answer any and all questions asked in this thread!!

Its so cold where i live, is it the ice age??!1?!?
:O!!!!!!!1111111!!!!!!

No, it is not :p

Though, an Ice Age could start as quickly as 1 year. It does not take a lot of time for a sudden drop in temperatures and a changing of the atmosphere. I see no reason that will happen, since the general trend of the climate is currently warming, but it could definitely happen if the conditions are right. Imagine, next year it's so cold that it snows all year round, and no one could expect it.

Despite entering/nearing/transitioning into another Greenhouse era of Earth, Aren't we still in an Ice Age/Icehouse?

Actually, yes we are! We're moving into an interglacial stage right now though

Stay great. :^)

this helps a lot you don't even know

It helps?! How so?

Are modern rhinos and elephants direct descendants of the woolly ones or are they from another ancestor related to them?

was the giant ground sloth cute

when would be the next ice age? o:

Does Sid will have a girlfriend or not ?

Laddee a dit :

Are modern rhinos and elephants direct descendants of the woolly ones or are they from another ancestor related to them?

They're actually descendants of the older elephants! Actually, scientists believe that the only living Ice Age animals today are some African ones, which include the African elephants!

slothingtonn a dit :

was the giant ground sloth cute

Skylamouse a dit :

when would be the next ice age? o:

No one knows for sure. Right now, we're technically considered to be still in a glacial stage (which means Ice Age) but we're headed into an interglacial stage. An interglacial stage is a period of warmth. This can be supported by the recent trend of global warming, whether causes by us humans or natural Earth events.

What killed the dinosaurs?

Knightofpiza a dit :

What killed the dinosaurs?

that wasnt in the ice age

Knightofpiza a dit :

What killed the dinosaurs?

A meteor did

duhhhhh......