FTP name this second division of the Tertiary Period that began about 57.8 million years ago and ended about 36.6 million years ago, which followed the Paleocene Epoch and precedes the Oligocene Epoch, and which, as its name suggests, was the "dawn" of recent life.
In Europe fossil strata from this epoch are divided into the Ypresian, Lutetian, Bartonian, and Priabonian stages, while in North America they are referred to as the Wasatchian, Bridgerian, Uintan, and Duchesnean stages. In it, marine mammals such as the the cetaceans and the sirenians first appeared, as did the artiodactyls, which were precursors to the deer, cattle, and sheep, and perissodactlys, ancestors of rhinoceroses, tapirs, and horses. FTP name this second division of the Tertiary Period that began about 57.8 million years ago and ended about 36.6 million years ago, which followed the Paleocene Epoch and precedes the Oligocene Epoch, and which, as its name suggests, was the "dawn" of recent life.
In Europe fossil strata from this epoch are divided into the Ypresian, Lutetian, Bartonian, and Priabonian stages, while in North America they are referred to as the Wasatchian, Bridgerian, Uintan, and Duchesnean stages.
Eocene