Deck 18: Life of the Cenozoic Era

Question 1

Elephants are more closely related to whales than they are to the mastodons.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Forests gave way to grasslands and prairies following a general decrease in precipitation 25 million years ago in the midcontinent region of North America.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Human hunting during the Late Pleistocene may have caused the extinction of some large mammals.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Rapid climate changes during the Late Pleistocene may have caused extinctions of some large mammals.

Question 5

Leaf shapes of fossilized plants can be used to indicate climate conditions.

Question 6

The presence of marsupials in Australia is partly due to the fact that it is isolated from other continents.

Question 7

Rudists continued to dominate Cenozoic coral reef environments, just as they did during the Mesozoic.

Question 8

Cynodonts were mammal-like reptiles and considered to be ancestors of the true mammals.

Question 9

One distinction between browsers and grazers is that grazers have high crowned teeth.

Question 10

Monotreme mammals produce an unprotected embryo that undergoes further development in a pouch.

Question 11

Bats are the only reptiles presently capable of flight.

Question 12

The large size of some Pleistocene mammals was probably an evolutionary adaptation to allow these animals to live in tropical climates.

Question 13

Yellowstone National Park had a subtropical climate in the Eocene.

Question 14

Members of the mammal order Cetacea include desert-dwelling mammals that conserve water by having thick skins.

Question 15

Evolution of the placenta was important because it allowed young animals more time to develop before birth.

Question 16

Whales are members of the Cetacea mammal order.

Question 17

The diversity of birds has steadily decreased over the Cenozoic, likely due to delayed skeletal adaptations.

Question 18

After the Isthmus of Panama formed, marsupials invaded North America and were very successful.

Question 19

Avian dinosaurs survived the Mesozoic extinction and continue to persist and survive in the present day Cenozoic.

Question 20

All mammals are vertebrates.

Question 21

Any cud-chewing placental mammal with a complex three- or four-chambered stomach, such as deer, cattle, antelope, or camels is a(n) ____.

A) marsupial
B) ammonoid
C) ruminant
D) reptile
E) hominid

Question 22

The carnivores have specialized shearing teeth called ____.

A) perrisodonts
B) artiodonts
C) carnassials
D) miacidissials
E) incissials

Question 23

A dog is an example of a(n) ____.

A) ungulate
B) invertebrate
C) nekton
D) vertebrate
E) primate

Question 24

The ancestors of whales lived on land.

Question 25

The vast majority of mammals belong to the ____ order.

A) Monotremes
B) Marsupials
C) Placental
D) hominids
E) perissodactyls

Question 26

Which mammals have been hugely successful, partly because they can eat almost anything?

A) primates
B) creodonts
C) rodents
D) artiodactyls
E) perissodactyls

Question 27

Carnivores can be distinguished from herbivores by ____.

A) size, as carnivores are larger
B) size, as herbivores are larger
C) number of toes, as carnivores have an odd number of toes
D) number of toes, as herbivores have an odd number of toes
E) tooth shape

Question 28

Any animal that eats low-growing vegetation, especially grasses, is a(n) ____.

A) carnivore
B) browser
C) grazer
D) carnivore-scavenger
E) autotroph

Question 29

Despite the similar appearance of mammoths to elephants, the mammoths and elephants are not related.

Question 30

Which animal is a mammal?

A) Frog
B) Turtle
C) human
D) dinosaur
E) salamander

Question 31

Humans are the most abundant mammals on Earth.

Question 32

Any animal that eats tender shoots, twigs, and leaves is a(n) ____.

A) grazer
B) autotroph
C) browser
D) carnivore
E) carnivore-scavenger

Question 33

Which phytoplankton flourished in the Miocene, probably because of increased volcanism?

A) coccolithophores
B) diatoms
C) dinoflagellates
D) foraminifera
E) radiolarians

Question 34

The ancestor of all living carnivores is a(n) ____.

A) creodont
B) miacid
C) carnassial
D) ungulate
E) cetacean

Question 35

Prior to mammals, what animal was the most important predator?

A) Mastodons
B) saber-tooth cats
C) gastropods
D) flightless birds
E) Carnivores

Question 36

Unlike Cenozoic mammals, mammals of the Mesozoic were uniformly small.

Question 37

Most of the existing orders of mammals were present by the ____.

A) Paleocene
B) Eocene
C) Late Cretaceous
D) Oligocene
E) Miocene

Question 38

What is an evolutionary trend in hoofed animals in which premolars become more like molars, giving the animals a continuous series of grinding teeth?

A) carnassialization
B) herbivorization
C) carnivorization
D) omnivorization
E) molarization

Question 39

Because of their high metabolism, small mammals retain heat more effectively than large mammals.

Question 40

____ are a pair of specialized shearing teeth in members of the mammal order Carnivora.

A) Molars
B) Carnivores
C) Carnassials
D) Ungulates
E) Premolars

Question 41

The microorganisms that were a major component of the Cenozoic marine community were the ____________________, although some large forms have also been documented.

Question 42

High-crowned, abrasion-resistant chewing teeth are characteristic of ____________________, which eat ____________________.

Question 43

The Bering Land Bridge connected ____ and ____.

A) North America; Asia
B) Asia; Europe
C) Europe; Africa
D) North America; South America
E) Asia; Australia

Question 44

Which line of evidence would support the climate change hypothesis for the Pleistocene extinction event?

A) finding evidence of animal migrations
B) showing that animals were concentrated in areas of hunting
C) correlating extinctions with glacial advance and retreat
D) proving that previous climate changes were not marked by mass extinctions
E) finding the development of specialized animals in isolated environments

Question 45

Diatoms flourished during the Miocene, likely because increased volcanism meant oceans were enriched in the element ____________________, which diatoms use to build their skeletons.

Question 46

Why are fossils of carnivores less common than fossils of other animals?

A) They don't live in areas where fossilization is likely to happen.
B) They are better able to escape sudden catastrophic events.
C) Their large family units have a well-developed warning system.
D) They are warm-blooded and decay faster.
E) They make up a small percentage of the animal population.

Question 47

A rapid warming event 55 million years ago that disrupted ocean circulation is called the ____________________ ____________________ ____________________.

Question 48

The fossil record contained in Cenozoic rocks is more complete because ____.

A) there have been no extinction events
B) climate has been stable
C) the rates of plate movement have slowed
D) more animals had hard parts
E) the rocks are more accessible and have not been deformed

Question 49

The two groups of ungulates, based on eating styles, are ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 50

From which time period would you expect the most abundant and best preserved fossils?

A) Hadean
B) Archean
C) Paleozoic
D) Mesozoic
E) Cenozoic

Question 51

Which leaf shape would most likely predominate during glacial times?

A) small with incised margins
B) large with incised margins
C) thin and needle-like
D) smooth margins with pointed tips
E) smooth margins with blunt tips

Question 52

The general term ____________________ can be applied to any hoofed mammal.

Question 53

One evolutionary trend in ungulates was ____________________, a change in tooth structure designed to provide a continuous row of grinding teeth.

Question 54

The oldest known fossil ____________________, the only flying mammal, is from rocks of Eocene age.

Question 55

____________________ are specialized shearing teeth that developed in carnivorous mammals.

Question 56

Placental and marsupial mammals differ from monotremes in that ____.

A) monotremes give birth to live young
B) placental and marsupial mammals do not have eggs
C) monotremes are found only in Australia
D) placental and marsupial mammals give birth to live young
E) placental and marsupial mammals have better developed teeth

Question 57

Animals of the Pleistocene tended to be ____ than present day animals.

A) Larger
B) Smaller
C) slower
D) more diverse
E) more ectothermic

Question 58

____ and ____ were most affected by the Pleistocene extinctions.

A) Europe; Australia
B) North America; Australia
C) Australia; Africa
D) North America; Africa
E) Europe; Africa

Question 59

What is one possible reason artiodactyls have been more successful than perissodactyls?

A) Artiodactyls developed the ability to fly.
B) Artiodactyls developed multiple stomachs to aid in digestion.
C) Artiodactyls developed long limbs to run faster.
D) Perissodactyls developed the ability to fly.
E) Perissodactyls developed multiple stomachs to aid in digestion.

Question 60

The two groups of ungulates, based on number of toes, are ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 61

How did the cephalopods of the Cenozoic seas differ from the cephalopods of the Mesozoic?

Question 62

Discuss large mammals of the Pleistocene.

Question 63

Discuss the development of mammals of the order Carnivora.

Question 64

What happened during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum?

Question 65

Discuss the development of the various groups of small mammals during the Cenozoic.

Question 66

Compare and contrast the artiodactyls and the perissodactyls.

Question 67

Where were marsupials most abundant during the Cenozoic Era? What has been their fate thus far?

Question 68

Discuss the development of mammals during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, including the development of mammals from cynodonts and the development of various groups of mammals.

Question 69

Compare and contrast placental mammals, marsupials, and monotremes.

Question 70

Discuss the development of the giant aquatic mammals.