Florida is just emerging from the sea. Many sea creature fossils may be found, sharks, whales, shells, etc. Sorry, no dinosaurs. They died out while Florida was still under water.

Florida is populated with a wide variety of mammals and birds. Many fossils have been found including: Mastodons, saber-toothed cats (smilodon), 3 toed horse, rhinocerous, bison, antelope, sloth, camels, peccary, tapir, giant lions, dire wolf, short faced bear, vampire bats, assorted rodents (extinct and otherwise), various fish, sharks, mollusks, manatee, dugong, whales and others too numerous to mention.

Florida was lush and tropical during this time, while much of North America was arid and dry. A land bridge between North and South America appeared during this time which led to a migration and mixture of animal types.

Glaciation occurred frequently in North America, but never reached Florida. However, Florida was affected by the rise and fall of the seas as much of the earths water was being held by the glaciers. During the driest years, the sea level dropped up to 300 feet of its present level. It also rose up to 20 above its present level. Grasslands, forests and swamps came and went, which caused many plants and animals to thrive or decline depending upon the current climate. Land bridges to South America and across the Caribbean emerged or submerged frequently. It is also believed that a bridges to Eurasia existed as well.

More Glaciation, with resulting rise and fall of sea levels. It is believed that the sea levels changed drastically about thirty times during the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. Drastic changes in environment during these epochs caused many over-specialized species to become extinct.

Man arrives in Florida around 12,000 BCE. By this time humans had become very skillful hunters. It is believed that many species, already under pressure and on the edge of extinction were pushed over the brink due to over-hunting by wandering Paleo-Indian tribes.