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Full Description
How do we know that mammals lived alongside the dinosaurs? What proves that whales evolved from four-legged land animals and are related to hippos? Did hunting by humans or climate change cause the extinction of mammoths? How far back would we need to go to see that horses were once almost identical to tapirs and rhinos?
Donald R. Prothero takes readers on a journey through the history of mammals, opening a window onto the worlds of some of the most incredible and peculiar animals that ever lived. He tells the dramatic stories of fossil findings and the paleontologists who unraveled them, showing how scientific ingenuity advanced our knowledge of both ancient and present-day mammals. Alongside iconic animals like mastodons, dire wolves, and sabertoothed cats, Prothero introduces readers to a vast range of little-known prehistoric creatures. Some resemble their living relatives, but with a twist: short-necked giraffes, camels without humps, rhinos without horns, bear-sized beavers. Others are like nothing alive today, such as chalicotheres, which look like a cross between a horse and gorilla but with claws, and uintatheres, which one scientist compared to "giant horned bunnies." Lively and informative, The Story of the Mammals in 25 Discoveries highlights the wonder, beauty, and strangeness of the creatures that have shared our world.
Contents
Preface
1. Mammut: The "Great Incognitum"—Mastodons and Their Relatives
2. Mammuthus: Mammoths—Monsters of the Ice Ages
3. Megatherium: Jefferson's "Lion"—Giant Ground Sloths
4. Amphitherium: Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs
5. Diprotodon: Platypus, Giant Kangaroos, and Wombats—Australia's Curious Mammals
6. Toxodon: Darwin's Mysterious Mammal
7. Uintatherium: Six-Horned Saber-Tooths and the "Bone Wars"
8. Hyracotherium: The "Hyrax Beast"—The Evolution of Horses
9. Megacerops: "Thunder Beasts"—The Brontotheres
10. Chalicotherium and Megatapirus: Hoofed Mammals with Claws and Trunks
11. Coelodonta: Woolly Rhinos—and Rhinos Without Horns
12. Daeodon: "Hell Pigs"—The Entelodonts
13. Poebrotherium: Camels Without Humps
14. Samotherium: Giraffes with Short Necks
15. Bison Latifrons: Where the Buffalo Roam
16. Megaloceros: Where the Deer and the Antelope Play
17. Basilosaurus: From Land to Water I—The Evolution of Whales
18. Pezosiren: From Land to Water II—The Evolution of Sirenians
19. Enaliarctos: From Land to Water III—The Evolution of Pinnipeds
20. Ursus spelaeus: Clan of the Cave Bear
21. Aenocyon dirus: The Direst Wolf
22. Smilodon: Saber-Toothed Killers
23. Castoroides: Rodents of Unusual Size
24. Oreopithecus and Ramapithecus: Apes of Confusion
25. Australopithecus: The Ape's Reflection
Index
