The Cosmic Day
(Midnight Dec. 30 to Midnight Dec. 31)

1 hour = approx. 1,800,000 years

years ago time what happened
43,200,000 00:00 Mesohippus... ancestor of the modern horse
41,400,000 01:00
39,600,000 02:00
37,800,000 03:00
36,000,000 04:00
34,200,000 05:00 Our ancestors leave the trees and assume a semi-upright posture
32,400,000 06:00
30,600,000 07:00
28,800,000 08:00
27,000,000 09:00 Miocene Epoch begins.
25,200,000 10:00 Mastodons migrate from Africa to Europe.
23,400,000 11:00
21,600,000 12:00 Driopithecus (large forest-dwelling primates)
19,800,000 13:00
18,000,000 14:00 Climate begins to cool... grasslands appear where before there was forest.
16,200,000 15:00 Ramapithecus (probable ancestor of modern apes and humans)
14,400,000 16:00
12,600,000 17:00
10,800,000 18:00
9,000,000 19:00
7,200,000 20:00 first hominids; Pliocene Epoch begins
5,400,000 21:00 Australopithecus robustus; A. anamensis; A. afarensis (upright walking)
3,600,000 22:00 Pleistocene Epoch; modern bears, horses, elephants
Homo erectus; H. habilis, first stone tools
1,800,000

today

23:00

24:00

See Cosmic Hour
Go back to The Cosmic Month