The Anthropocene is a relatively recent term, coined to define the epoch in which human activity is increasingly dictating environmental and biological change on Earth as previous periods driven by natural occurrences did in pre-history; during the Pleistocene, for instance. Technically, the current epoch is the Holocene, but human activity has altered the world so significantly, that, with our usual species-centric perspective, we have shunned hubris and given the current epoch this new name in a fit of unaccustomed self-awareness.