The Cryocene (~0.2 - 7.4 myph) is a posthistoric age following the Holocene/Anthropocene and preceding the Lyonocene. It is marked by a series of Ice Ages even more drastic than those of the Pleistocene. Glaciers cover the North Pole of the planet to the 48th parallel, forming vast ice sheets and tundras.
Additional glaciers have formed across antarctica, the Andes Mountains, Southern Africa, South Australia, Southern Aotearoa and the Tibetan Plateau. Due to the massive amounts of ice sea levels have dropped about 140 meters below the 21st Century, allowing natural landbridges to form and connect the continents as well as various islands, examples such as the Bering Land Bridge and Indonesia and Florida have allowed an interchange of various animals which were formerly isolated to their 21st century ranges. For the islands that managed to remain isolated, the drops in sea level have given their inhabitants more land area to roam and as a result attain even greater sizes than those seen in the Holocene.
For lands nearer to the equator, the change in climate has caused areas used to receiving lots of rainfall to receive less and drier areas to receive more causing both rainforests and deserts alike to shrink in favor of grasslands, scrublands and marshes.
This era is (so far) not as well known as the Lyonocene
Wildlife
Cryocene Wildlife is still in the process of recovering from a Mass Extinction event that occured at the end of the Anthropocene that wiped out Humans as well as Rhinoceroses, Horses, Bison and Buffalo, Giraffes, large Felids, Bears, Old World Vultures, Dragons, Tuna among many others. and with many niches globally unfilled the survivors gradually have begun evolved new forms to fill these empty niches.
North America
- North American Marmotaur (Bomarmota americanus)
- Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) - Walruses are very common throughout the boreal waters of Cryocene Earth, their cold-water adaptations allow them to thrive in this period of rapid global cooling.
South America
- Cowpybara (Hydrotaurus hydrotaurus) - a large descendant of the Capybara, found throughout South America, and parts of Central America.
- Giant Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga gigantea) - a descendant of the Giant Anteater, 25% larger than its Holocene Ancestor.
Eurasia
- Marmotaurs - Marmotaurs are descendants of the Marmot, that are found across Eurasia. The genus is extremely successful, with at least 5 known species, in some places such as the Siberian Steppe, Marmotaurs make up 75% of large herbivorous mammals.
- European Marmotaur (Bomarmota europaeus)
- Chinese Marmotaur (Bomarmota sinensis)
- Siberian Marmotaur (Bomarmota primigenius)
- European Panther (Lynx ferox) - European Panther is a descendant of the Eurasian Lynx and was the apex predator throughout Europe. These felines could reach heights of 4 ft at the shoulder and weigh 650 lbs. Skilled hunters, they feed upon the vast herds of Marmotaurs that dominated Cryocene Europe.
- Steppe Goose (Giganser tatarica) - a descendant of the White-fronted Goose found across Europe, Asia and parts of North America. They are enormous and flightless, reaching 8 ft tall and weighing up to 1.5 tons. They feed on vast quantities of grasses, lichens and mosses that dominate the northern steppes.
Oceans
- Whales - most cetacean species have survived through (or were revived by Humanity during) the Holocene and Anthropocene and now thrive in the human free and nutrient rich waters of the Cryocene.
- Lake Zeuglodonts
- Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
- Baird’s Beaked Whale (Berardius bairdii)
- Blainville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris)
- Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris)
- Dimorphic Beaked Whale
- Gervais’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon europaeus)
- Ginkgo-toothed Whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens)
- Gray’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon grayi)
- Hector’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon hectori)
- Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)
- Shepherd’s Beaked Whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi)
- Sowerby’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens)
- Spade-toothed Whale (Mesoplodon traversii)
- Stejneger’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri)
- Strap-toothed Whale (Mesoplodon layardii)
- Tropical Bottlenose Whale (Indopacetus pacificus)
- True’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon mirus)
- Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis)
- Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella frontalis)
- Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (Leucopleurus acutus)
- Commerson’s Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii)
- Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
- Clymene Dolphin (Stenella clymene)
- Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
- False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens)
- Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus)
- Long-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala melas)
- Melon-headed Whale (Peponocephala electra)
- Northern Right Whale Dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis)
- Orca (Orcinus orca)
- Pacific White-sided Dolphin (Aethalodelphis obliquidens)
- Pantropical Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata)
- Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata)
- Rhinoceros Dolphin (Cetodipterus rhinoceros)
- Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus)
- Rough-toothed Dolphin (Steno bredanensis)
- Short-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus)
- Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris)
- Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba)
- Tamanend’s Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops erebennus)
- White-beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris)
- Harbor Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
- Narwhal (Monodon monoceras)
- Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas)
- Great Lakes Beluga Whale (D. leucas michiganensis)
- Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus)
- Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis)
- Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata)
- Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis)
- Common Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutirostrata)
- Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
- Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
- Sei Whale (Balaenoptera borealis)
- Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera brydei)
- Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)
- Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)