@hamburger,
I love the Miocene. If I had a favorite geologic epoch, it would be the Miocene. So much **** happened and so many modern forms were scumbling their way to massive sizes. (You can keep yer ages of dinosaurs) give me the Tertiary and the Miocene in particular. Little celebrated bolides whacked into the planet in Germany and the Chesapeake Bay that caused a mass extinction that is always passed over in the awards programs. The Rift Valley got going in earnest then, India was lining up on Asia, the rockies went through a test "birth" and the sea mammals were also evolving away into their present forms . Somethin for everybody, I say.