Imagine Earth covered in thick sheets of ice. And sea levels so low you'll walk to a special continent. this is often what our planet would appear as if during an glacial period .
There are five of them in Earth’s history and that they have had an enormous impact on our present world. Now, attempt to imagine an Earth where these ice ages never existed within the first place.
What ecosystems would change? Would humans have evolved? Why do ice ages happen?
Over a century ago, Milutin Milankovitch hypothesized that changes within the Earth’s orbit, the angle of its axis, and therefore the direction of its axis are what create long-term changes to the climate. referred to as Milankovitch cycles, they create the seasons we all know well, and therefore the ice ages that we’re glad to possess skipped.
But what if Milankovitch cycles didn’t exist? Without Milankovitch cycles, Earth would look tons different. There would are no ice ages. None in the least .
Which means no glacier to carve out beautiful inland lakes and valleys. It is also means Earth’s flora and fauna would have evolved differently.
Grasses initially popped abreast of Earth before the primary glacial period . But they really thrived because the Earth became cooler and drier. Grasslands, tundras, and savannahs grew everywhere the world , replacing dense forests.
With no cooling period leading up to the primary glacial period , grasses wouldn't have spread so easily. There would be less variety, and therefore the animals that evolved to eat grass would be less abundant.
Horses, giraffes, cows, gazelles, any animal you accompany dry grasslands, would have had less habitat to flourish. Instead, there would be more rainforests left on the Earth. The climate generally would be warmer and wetter.
And what about animals that reigned during the ice ages? Well, we wouldn’t know of any. Saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, mastodons, woolly mammoths, probably would never have graced our planet. But what about us?
Homo erectus first emerged during the last big glacial period within the Pleistocene . this is often an equivalent time that woolly mammoths roamed the planet . A general hypothesis is that the acute climate forced the evolution of Homo erectus.
They had to vary their diets from mostly plants to half plants and half meat, which increased their brain size. They developed the utilization of tools. and that they had to migrate to hunt more hospitable land.
Without the glacial period forcing the necessity for adaptation and evolution, humans would probably not exist. Which also means our present Earth wouldn't have any of the human-induced climate changes we are witnessing today.
Even if Homo erectus, which preceded Homo sapiens , evolved no matter the glacial period , our progress as a species would change. Many scientists attribute agriculture to the rapid climb and global expansion of humans. But without the glacial period , we could have developed the advantages of agriculture sooner.
In the absence of dry, arid grasslands, we also may need advanced different farming practices which favored forest foods. Our diet might contains less plants from the Gramineae , like wheat and oats, and more fruits and vegetables.
For evolution to occur, it needs a catalyst, like an glacial period . Earth as we all know it today exists because cycles and catalysts have pushed living organisms to adapt. it might be a really different planet without Milankovitch cycles and therefore the ice ages they produce.
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