Lothagam

Book Description

Located at the southwest corner of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, Lothagam represents one of the most important intervals in African prehistory. Early human remains are restricted in distribution to Africa and the acquisition of an upright bipedal striding gait, the hallmark of humanity, appears to be at least circumstantially linked to the reduction of equatorial forests and the spread of grasslands on that continent. The diverse Lothagam fauna documents the end-Miocene transition from forested to more open habitats that were exploited by grazing horses and antelopes, hippos, giant pigs, and true elephants. It also includes spectacularly complete fossil carnivore skeletons and some of the oldest human remains.

Enlisting a team of highly qualified specialists, this book provides the geologic context and dating framework for the Lothagam fossiliferous sequences, describes the immense diversity of vertebrate fossils recovered from the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene sediments, and synthesizes the results to interpret the changing paleoenvironments that prevailed at this site. The book will interest anthropologists, paleontologists, geologists, and anyone interested in human origins.

The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution

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An Interesting Science Book
Good, but a little familiar...
Good, but a little familiar...
The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution
A delightful saurian romp

The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution
Dougal Dixon
Manufacturer: Salem House Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future
Extraterrestrials: A Field Guide for Earthlings
Future Evolution
Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV
The Future is Wild

ASIN: 0881623016

Customer Reviews:

An Interesting Science Book.......2007-03-16

Dougal Dixon's first book, After Man, was an excellent look at what animals might be like if humans became extinct. This book explores what dinosaurs might have been like if they hadn't gone extinct. It's a very interesting idea, and this book does a good job of it. Many of the dinosaurs are imaginatively designed, but are still remeniscent of real dinosaurs. However, the book is flawed in the fact that some of the dinosaurs are very improbable, for example, many have fur. These creatures are not as imaginative as those in After Man, which is one of my favorite science books. A website called The Speculative Dinosaur Project does a similar thing, except that the creatures are more plausible and more developed, and it is more thourough,
Still, this is an excellent book with a well thought out concept, and in spite of what I have said, many of the creatures are very interesting.

Good, but a little familiar..........2007-01-13

well, it's a good book, i'll admit, but the creatures just seem all too familiar. the Treepounce looks remarkebly like a leopard, and the Gwanna, well, that's a kangaroo. the Lank? a Giraffe, of course! creatures like the Glub? well, that's simple. obviously a manatee. the trunk on the Lumber's nose made it an obvious elephant. almost all of the creatures had one thing in common: they seemed to be saurian replacements of real earth animals. i admot, it makes a little sence, seeing as these real animals living with us have evilved to look the way they do for a reason, but for every dinosaur to have a real-world brother? but that's not my big complaint. the only thing that i saw wrong with this book would be the shortage of dinosaurs outside the coelurosaur/hypsilophidont/arbrosaur lineage. there was only one ceratopsian, wich seems illogical, seeing how successful they were during the Cretaceous. perhaps the one creature that i was 100% dissapointed with was the Coconut Grab, an Ammonite/Squid ancestor that can emerge from the sea and climb trees like a robber crab. preposterous! looking at their similarities i conclude, if the cephalopods don't need to reach land in the real world, they wouldn't need to in Dixon's world, either.

anyways, if you are into seeing what life minus the KT extinction would be like, you should check this out. if you aren't really phased by the topic, don't bother.

Good, but a little familiar..........2007-01-13

The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution.......2007-01-07

Good-but not very relastic
Dixion really should have bothered to look at the state of the world in the last 65 million years, because their are events that would still have happened. For example, birds would not have become extinct, neither would the mammals, both were doing very well. Also, the Pterosaurs would be extinct, or close to it.

A delightful saurian romp.......2006-08-30

What would have happened if the K-T had never happened? What if the dinosaurs and their relatives had continued their succesful lineage and continued to gradually evolve? Renowned paleontologist Dougal Dixon delves headfirst into this interesting topic. We start our tour with a brief history on the different theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs. We then move into the present-day dinosaurs. We start in the steamy jungles of Africa, where we see "arbrosaurs" (tree-climbing dinosaurs) eating insects and wasps in the canopy. We then see bizarre giraffe-like creatures on what would be the African Savannah, descended from pterosaurs. In the desert, there are "sandles" a subterrenian predator, and Wyrms, which kill and eat small mammals. We move up to North America, in which we see "gestalts" a social dinosaur, with a queen, soldiers, and workers. We see agile brickets (descended from hadrosaurs) and the zwims, aquatic mammals. We move into the tundra, where giant flightless birds (trombles) migrate to breed. Smaller birds (whiffles) follow in their wake. In the colder deserts, we see ankylosaur descendants, adapted for colder weather. In the grasslands, we see gazelle-like sprintosaurs and the raptor-like northclaws. Dinosaurs have even colonized the mountains, like the herbivorus balacvlavs, and their predators, the mountain leapers. In South America, we see manatee-like watergulps and scaly gliders in the rainforests. On the pampas, heavily armoured turtosaurs roam, sharing their food with the larger lumbers. In Asia, we see panda-like Taddeys, and Numbskulls (their real name!) on the steppes of the Asian highlands. In Australia, things get really bizarre. We see flamingo-like dinosaurs (cribrums) and dingums, poisonous dinosaurs. In the trees, we see tubbs, a saurian equivalant of the koala. On the offshore islands, we see Seussian wandles, and Kloons, flightless pterasaurs. On the beaches, coconut grabs, amphibious ammonites (much like the swampus of The Future is Wild) and Shorerunners, small flightless pterasaurs which are their predators. There are more creatures, but I won't reveal them all. Get the book and find out about them for yourself!

Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals

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Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals
Donald R. Prothero , and Robert M. Schoch
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0801871352

Book Description

Since the extinction of the dinosaurs, hoofed mammals have been the planet's dominant herbivores. Native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica, they include not only even-toed artiodactyls (pigs, hippos, camels, deer, antelopes, giraffes, sheep, goats, and cattle) and odd-toed perissodactyls (horses and rhinos), but also tethytheres (elephants and their aquatic relatives, manatees and seas cows) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins), which descended from hoofed land mammals. Recent paleontological and biological discoveries have deepened our understanding of their evolution and in some cases have made previous theories obsolete. In Horns, Tusks, and Flippers, Donald R. Prothero and Robert M. Schoch present a compelling new evolutionary history of these remarkable creatures, combining the latest scientific evidence with the most current information about their ecology and behavior.

Using an approach based on cladistics, the authors consider both living and extinct ungulates. Included in their discussion are the stories of rhinos, whose ancestors include both dinosaur-sized hornless species and hippo-like river waders; elephants, whose earliest ancestors had neither tusks nor trunks; and whales, whose descent from hoofed mesonychids has never properly been described for the lay audience. Prothero and Schoch also update the evolutionary history of the horse, correcting the frequent errors made in textbooks and popular works, and they make available to the general public new evidence about the evolution of camels, horned antelopes, and cattle. In addition, they raise important conservation issues and relate anecdotes of significant fossil finds.

Scientifically accurate and up to date, generously illustrated, and clearly written, Horns, Tusks, and Flippers is a useful and much-needed resource for specialists in the fields of paleontology, zoology, ecology, and evolutionary biology, as well as for general readers interested in learning more about the story of life on earth.

The Evolution of Western Eurasian Neogene Mammal Faunas

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The Evolution of Western Eurasian Neogene Mammal Faunas

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0231082460

Book Description

The discovery of many well-preserved fossil hominid primates has inspired a wealth of research on such issues as their ages, paleoecological settings, and the conditions responsible for their extinction. This book presents a comprehensive survey of current knowledge from paleoclimatological, geochronological, stratigraphic, and taphonomic perspectives and is the first to present findings on factors in the turnover or transformation of faunas and floras in various regions throughout the Neogene period.

Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology (Life of the Past)

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Fossil Snakes of North America: Origin, Evolution, Distribution, Paleoecology (Life of the Past)
J. Alan Holman
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A Guide to Reptiles & Amphibians of Egypt

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Missing Links: Evolutionary Concepts and Transitions Through Time (Jones and Bartlett Series in Biology)

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Fills in the Gaps
SUPERB!!!

Missing Links: Evolutionary Concepts and Transitions Through Time (Jones and Bartlett Series in Biology)
Robert A. Martin
Manufacturer: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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How the Human Genome Works
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Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory (Modern Library Chronicles)
Evolution

ASIN: 0763721964

Book Description

This book introduces newcomers to the field of evolutionary science with an accessible discussion of basic scientific practices, rock and fossil dating techniques and schools of classification.

Customer Reviews:

Fills in the Gaps.......2004-10-29

This is a compact answer to creationist's demands to show them just one transitional fossil. This book has over 300 pages of them.

SUPERB!!!.......2003-08-09

Read this book if you ever wanted to know anything about evolution! It is full of interesting and incredibly insightful information on the subject!!

Average customer rating:

Not too bad, but dated
One of the few college texybooks I kept.
Best vertebrate paleontology book ever
I spent 2 weeks chewing on this book...

Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution
Robert L. Carroll
Manufacturer: W.H. Freeman & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Soils of the Past
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The Dinosauria

ASIN: 0716718227

Customer Reviews:

Not too bad, but dated.......2003-06-23

This is an excellent overview of the evolutionary history and osteology of the vertebrate taxa, but it is dated, particularly as regards the Archosauromorpha. It's opposition to cladistic practices for formulating phylogenies, is also noteworthy. Thus, you will find that numerous bankrupt taxa and no longer accurate classification schemes still, unfortunately, present themselves in this volume.

One of the few college texybooks I kept........2002-04-09

This book was my textbook for Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution at the University of Rochester back in 1992. The book is very daunting to look at if you just flip through it. However, it does a nice job of introducing concepts and terms to the reader. Its organization is straightforward, starting with the simplest vertebrates and eventually finishing with mammals. Most groups are covered well, considering that the author's cover every group of vertebrates known. The biggest problem I had with the book was the section on dinosaurs, the biggest reason why I took the class. The information on them was limited to a few pages and much of the information was out-dated even in 1992. However, if you are looking for a good book on vertebrates, this is a must have. Just realize that some of the information may not reflect our current understanding since the book is over 10 years old and many new finds have come to light, new ideas have been introduced, and old ideas reexamined.

Best vertebrate paleontology book ever.......2001-06-10

Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution is the most complete and detailed book on that subject. It is the bible for people whose major interest in on vertebrate paleontology.

I spent 2 weeks chewing on this book..........2000-05-11

...the only easily available work that goes to any depth on this intensely interesting subject. A large book of medium thickness with an average of about two drawings per page, including familial relationship diagrams.

Since the late Paleozoic, there have been two significant branches of terrestrial vertebrates: the diapsids (crocs, dinosaurs, birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, theraspids, mammals). Sharing a common ancestry and evolving at times in parallel, nevertheless distinctive features appear early that, though not of immediately apparent significance, in fact consign the lines to their separate fates.

The pelycosaur Dimetrodon, the familiar lizard-like reptile with a sail on its back that is often reproduced as a toy, and which I have always associated with the dinosaurs, is in fact a member of the synapsid line. The book points out how the process on the mandible that reaches up toward the temporal lobe is the beginning of a shift away from the ancestral quadrate-angular jaw articulation maintained by the diapsids through the birds. With the additional points of leverage provided, mammals were destined to become better chewers, able to move their jaws sideways in addition to up and down. The angular bone and one other bone in the mandible, incidentally, become modified to help pick up soundwaves, and eventually migrate to become one of the three bones in the middle ear. (Birds only have one bone in their middle ear, though interestingly, their hearing appears to be just as acute.)

Mammals continued to refine their chewing mechanism, introducing improvements to their teeth. Instead of the saw of teeth possessed by dinosaurs and early reptiles, the mammals developed closely occluding teeth that allowed them to grind food more efficiently. Apparently the price for this matching of the upper and lower teeth is that mammals cannot replace their adult teeth once lost.

Book Description

This book looks at how an animal is organized to carry out a difficult task - that of feeding on plants. The complex adaptations necessary to enable animals to obtain nutrients successfully from a herbivorous diet are many. For the first time these problems are examined here purely from the perspective of reptiles. Common themes are teased out and arranged chronologically to help gain an understanding of the patterns of diversity change in the group. This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of zoology, palaeontology, evolution, ecology, functional anatomy and morphology.

Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology

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Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology

Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Homology: The Hierarchical Basis of Comparative Biology

ASIN: 0127300562

Book Description

"Almost all evolutionary biologists, indeed all biologists, use particular features to study life. Evolutionary biologists use these characteristics or features in a particular way to unravel a tangled evolutionary history, to document the rate of evolutionary change, or as evidence of biodiverisity. "Characters" are the "data" of evolutionary biology and they can be employed differently in research, providing both opportunities and limitations. The Character Concept in Evolutionary Biology is about characters, their use, how different sorts of characters are limited, and the appropriate methods for character analysis. Leading evolutionary biologists from around the world are contributors to this authoritative review of the "character concept." Because characters and the conception of characters are central to all studies of evolution, and because evolution is the central organizing principle of biology, this book will appeal to a wide cross-section of biologists.

Focuses upon "characters"--fundamental data for evolutionary biology
Covers the myriad ways in which characters are defined, described, and distinguished
Reviews the genetic, functional, and developmental architecture of characters
Discusses the mechanisms by which new characters arise in evolution

Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences (Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology)

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Chris OSU

Extinctions in Near Time: Causes, Contexts, and Consequences (Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0306460920

Book Description

This book examines an important and growing issue among ecologists, conservation biologists, and archaeologists, namely recent extinction of species, and will focus on treatments of losses thought to have been caused by humans in some way over the past 40,000 years when Homo sapiens spread worldwide. There is an exemplary list of leading figures in this debate, and the book should have impact for the debate on current conservation issues and biodiversity.

Customer Reviews:

Chris OSU.......2005-03-24

The very much like the book. I thought it was very informative and coming from me (one who does not like to read factual books) that is saying something. I do not think everyone will react the same way to the book as i did. i like it because i am an animal enthusiast and any more information about conservation and extinction habits is music to my eyes (lol) anyway i would recommend this book to all who are interested in animals or want to have an informational book for projects. but many might not like it because it is written as die hard facts, it does not have a plot and would not be interesting to those who do not appreciate animals or science. ManPhee compiles a bunch of informtion based on the editors he gathered it from. it reads sort of like how u would find a history book, with graphs and charts to back up his info all in all it was very informative and i got lot out of it.

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