What is different about the Quaternary epoch compared to the epoch immediately prior to it?

Epoch, the geologic time period which is shorter than period but longer than an age

An epoch is just any given time period usually marked by specific events. For example, one might describe the period of the French Revolution as "the epoch of belief,...the epoch of incredulity"...

Epoch, the geologic time period which is shorter than period but longer than an age

Currently recognized are two epochs, the first being the Pleistocene, and the second, which started with the end of the last glaciation 10,000 years ago is the Holocene.

nothing