The diminishing population of African and Asian elephants can be compared to the extinction of other elephant-like species, such as mammoths and mastodonts, which occurred more than ten thousand years ago. The purpose of this book is to use the ecology and behavior of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodonts. The source of the models is a long-term and continuing study of elephants in Zimbabwe, Africa. These models are clearly described with respect to the anatomical, behavioral, and ecological similarities between past and present proboscideans. The implications of these similarities on the life and death of mammoths and mastodonts is explored in detail. The importance of this book is primarily its unifying perspective on living and extinct proboscideans: the fossil record is closely examined and compared to the natural history of surviving elephants. Dr. Haynes's studies of the places where African elephants die (so-called elephant burial grounds) are unique.

That humans originated from Africa is well-known. However, this is widely regarded as a chance outcome, dependant simply on where our common ancestor shared the land with where the great apes lived. This volume builds on from the 'Out of Africa' theory, and takes the view that it is only in Africa that the evolutionary transitions from a forest-inhabiting frugivore to savanna-dwelling meat-eater could have occurred. This book argues that the ecological circumstances that shaped these transitions are exclusive to Africa. It describes distinctive features of the ecology of Africa, with emphasis on savanna grasslands, and relates them to the evolutionary transitions linking early ape-men to modern humans. It shows how physical features of the continent, especially those derived from plate tectonics, set the foundations. This volume adequately conveys that we are here because of the distinctive features of the ecology of Africa.

This valuable collection of essays presents and evaluates techniques of body-mass estimation and reviews current and potential applications of body-size estimates in paleobiology. Papers discuss explicitly the errors and biases of various regression techniques and predictor variables, and the identification of functionally similar groups of species for improving the accuracy of estimates. At the same time other chapters review and discuss the physiological, ecological, and behavioral correlates of body size in extant mammals; the significance of body-mass distributions in mammalian faunas; and the ecology and evolution of body size in particular paleofaunas. Coverage is particularly detailed for carnivores, primates, and ungulates, but information is also presented on marsupials, rodents, and proboscideans.

Die Kurze Geschichte der Geologie und Palaontologie beschreibt die Entwicklung des Wissenschaftsgebietes von der Antike bis heute, die vor allem durch die jungsten technischen Errungenschaften deutlich beschleunigt wurde. Von anderen Darstellungen unterscheidet sich dieses Buch dadurch, dass als Ausgangspunkt das 17. Jahrhundert mit dem Ringen um die wahre Natur der Fossilien gewahlt ist, von dem aus der Blick ruckwarts in die Antike und vorwarts bis in die unmittelbare Gegenwart gelenkt wird. Das Ziel des Buches ist es, Wissenschaftlern, Studierenden und Freunden der Geologie und Palaontologie einen Uberblick uber den historischen Wandel ihres Fachgebietes in Form eines anregenden Lesebuchs zu geben. Ein Anhang sowie Abbildungen und Portratskizzen des Autors runden das Buch ab."

There are many books on palaeontology, aimed at amateurs, undergraduates and aspiring academics. Perhaps commonest amongst these are guides to fossil identification, from the general (basic texts on fossil variety and morphology) to the specific (field guides to specific groups, localities or horizons). Many of these are readable, comprehensive and provide good advice. This is not such a book - there is more to the subject than just putting a name on a specimen, however important that may be. As the book's title states, this is a practical manual covering the many aspects of palaeontology. It is organised in fifty-three chapters; each chapter focusses on one aspect of palaeontology as viewed with a geologist's trained eye. It can be read from cover-to-cover or dipped into when an answer to a specific question is needed. The aim is to help the developing palaeontologist move their skills on to the next level. It is aimed, primarily, at the beginner in the broadest sense, both amateur and undergraduate. Palaeontologists and geologists are encouraged to use the book as much as a reference as a reader, dipping in to the chapters that contain relevant tips, hints and comments to enable them to improve their understanding of their current interest. It is informative, readable and, most of all, of practical application for all palaeontologists.

This is a revised and updated version of Rhona Black's successful and highly acclaimed textbook. Aimed at students approaching the subject for the first time, The Elements of Palaeontology achieves an approach simple enough for beginning students, yet with sufficient depth and breadth of coverage for those wishing to delve further into the early history of life. The author deals systematically with all the groups of fossilised organisms: invertebrates and vertebrates, microfossils, plants and trace fossils, describing their morphology and dealing briefly with the biological aspects of palaeontology. The relevant technical terms are clearly defined and a glossary is included for each of the main invertebrate groups. In this second edition, a chapter on trace fossils has been added, the chapter on microfossils expanded, and a section on pollens included with the plants. In each case the superb illustrations have been added to, with the inclusion of many new electron micrographs.

In the days when dinosaurs dominated the earth, their marine counterparts--every bit as big and ferocious--reigned supreme in prehistoric seas. In this entrancing book, Richard Ellis, one of the world's foremost writers on the denizens of the deep, takes us back to the Mesozoic era to resurrect the fascinating lives of these giant seagoing reptiles.

Working from the fossil record, Ellis explores the natural history of these fierce predators, speculates on their habits, and tells how they eventually became extinct--or did they? He traces the 200-million-year history of the great ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs who swam the ancient oceans--and who, according to some, may even still frequent the likes of Loch Ness.

Picture if you will seventy-foot dragons with foot-long serrated teeth, or an animal that looked like a crocodile crossed with a shark the size of a small yacht. With its impossibly long neck, Plesiosaurus conybeari has been compared to "a giant snake threaded through the body of a turtle." At a length of nearly sixty feet, Mosasaurus hoffmanni boasted powerful jaws and teeth that could crunch up even the hardest-shelled giant sea turtle. And Kronosaurus queenslandicus, perhaps the most formidable of the lot, had a skull nine feet long--more than twice that of Tyrannosaurus Rex--with teeth to match.

The first book about these amazing animals in nearly a century, "Sea Dragons" draws upon the most recent scientific research to vividly reconstruct their lives and habitats. Their fossils have been found all over the world--in Europe, Australia, Japan, and even Kansas--in lands that once lay on the floors of Jurassic and Triassic seas. Along the way, the book also provides intriguing insights into and entertaining tales about the work, discoveries, and competing theories that compose the fascinating world of vertebrate paleontology.

Ellis also graces his text with a set of incomparable illustrations. Widely hailed as our foremost artist of marine natural history, he depicts vividly how these creatures probably appeared and, through these likenesses, invites us to speculate on their locomotion, their predatory habits, their very lifestyles.

A genuine book of marvels and wonders, "Sea Dragons" will certainly stir one's curiosity about our planet's prehistoric past.

There is only one kind of human on earth today: us. But we are only one of a number of human species - primates of the Hominini tribe - that have existed on our planet across the millennia. In 2004 the world was astounded by the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a species of human never encountered before, on the island of Flores in the Indonesian archipelago. A very short, thickset being, with long arms and feet and an appetite for stegodons (a now extinct relative of modern elephants), it was soon nicknamed 'the hobbit'. As recently as 52,500 years ago, at a time when our own ancestors were spreading around the world, these 'hobbit' cousins lived also, at least on Flores. In Little Species, Big Mystery archaeologist Debbie Argue takes us on a journey of thrilling scientific discovery, recounting the unearthing of H. floresiensis, the archaeological expeditions that have followed, other finds - including that of a small Philippines hominin - and new paths of research and discussion. Argue conveys the excitement of searching for and finding clues to a lost past, and the animated discussions that have flowed from their discovery. She provides much contextual information to strengthen our grasp of the essential coordinates of this field and stimulate our interest in the shadowy, fascinating realm of prerecorded time.