Megafauna
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End Of The Megafauna The Fate Of The World S Hugest Fiercest And Strangest Animals
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Author : Ross D E MacPhee
language : en
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Release Date : 2018-11-13
End Of The Megafauna The Fate Of The World S Hugest Fiercest And Strangest Animals written by Ross D E MacPhee and has been published by W. W. Norton & Company this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2018-11-13 with Science categories.
The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth. Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller—including gorilla-sized lemurs, 500-pound birds, and crocodiles that weighed a ton or more—roamed the earth. These great beasts, or “megafauna,” lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone. What caused the disappearance of these prehistoric behemoths? No one event can be pinpointed as a specific cause, but several factors may have played a role. Paleomammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee explores them all, examining the leading extinction theories, weighing the evidence, and presenting his own conclusions. He shows how theories of human overhunting and catastrophic climate change fail to account for critical features of these extinctions, and how new thinking is needed to elucidate these mysterious losses. Along the way, we learn how time is determined in earth history; how DNA is used to explain the genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna—and how synthetic biology and genetic engineering may be able to reintroduce these giants of the past. Until then, gorgeous four-color illustrations by Peter Schouten re-create these megabeasts here in vivid detail.
Megafauna
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Author : Richard A. Fariña
language : en
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Release Date : 2013-05-22
Megafauna written by Richard A. Fariña and has been published by Indiana University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-05-22 with Science categories.
“An enjoyable read that provides a substantial amount of detail on the biology, ecology, and distribution of these fantastic animals . . . Highly recommended.” —Choice More than 10,000 years ago spectacularly large mammals roamed the pampas and jungles of South America. This book tells the story of these great beasts during and just after the Pleistocene, the geological epoch marked by the great ice ages. Megafauna describes the history and way of life of these animals, their comings and goings, and what befell them at the beginning of the modern era and the arrival of humans. It places these giants within the context of the other mammals then alive, describing their paleobiology—how they walked; how much they weighed; their diets, behavior, biomechanics; and the interactions among them and with their environment. It also tells the stories of the scientists who contributed to our discovery and knowledge of these transcendent creatures and the environment they inhabited. The episode known as the Great American Biotic Interchange, perhaps the most important of all natural history “experiments,” is also an important theme of the book, tracing the biotic events of both North and South America that led to the fauna and the ecosystems discussed in this book. “Collectively, this book brings attention to the discovery and natural history of ancient beasts in South America while providing a broader temporal and geographic background that allows readers to understand their evolution and potential immigration to South America.” —Quarterly Review of Biology “An excellent volume . . . This book is likely to facilitate progress in the understanding of fossil mammals from the Americas.” —Priscum
Megafauna
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Author : Baz Edmeades
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2021-11-10
Megafauna written by Baz Edmeades and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-11-10 with Science categories.
Ecological competition began as slow arms races. Predators evolved to hunt. Prey evolved to defend themselves. Each improvement was small, barely shifting the odds of survival. Nature remained in equilibrium. Until the dawn of humanity. When our ancestors developed the unique ability to think up new devices and behaviors, humanity became able to overcome nature's defenses far more quickly than natural selection could respond. Humankind spread out of Africa, wiping out most of the megafauna in its path-mammoths, sabertooth cats, elephant-sized sloths, and a great many other species. Today, this formidable, inventive genius of our species-now grown to overwhelming and all-conquering proportions-is threatening to make the earth unlivable, even for ourselves. The only weapon available to us to counter this threat is, ironically, the same one that unleashed our destructiveness in the first place: the analytical and creative power of the human brain.
Once And Future Giants
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Author : Sharon Levy
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2011-03-22
Once And Future Giants written by Sharon Levy and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2011-03-22 with Science categories.
Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever. In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction events worldwide, showing that understanding this history--and our part in it--is crucial for protecting the elephants, polar bears, and other great creatures at risk today. These surviving relatives of the Ice Age beasts now face the threat of another great die-off, as our species usurps the planet's last wild places while driving a warming trend more extreme than any in mammalian history. Deftly navigating competing theories and emerging evidence, Once and Future Giants examines the extent of human influence on megafauna extinctions past and present, and explores innovative conservation efforts around the globe. The key to modern-day conservation, Levy suggests, may lie fossilized right under our feet.
Corridors To Extinction And The Australian Megafauna
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Author : Steve Webb
language : en
Publisher: Newnes
Release Date : 2013-02-27
Corridors To Extinction And The Australian Megafauna written by Steve Webb and has been published by Newnes this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013-02-27 with Science categories.
Extinctions have always occurred and always will, so what is so surprising about the megafauna extinctions? They were caused by humans and were the first of many extinctions that eventually led to the extinction of the Moa, Steller's Sea Cow, the Dodo, Great Auk and countless other species great and small, all attributed to human agency. Therefore, the megafauna were humans’ first great impact on the planet. There is now an increasing realization that the 'blitzkrieg' view of these extinctions may have been wrong. A growing body of evidence and long-term field work is beginning to show that at least Australia's megafauna did not succumb to human agency, not because humans probably did not hunt the odd animal but because the an infinitely more logical reason lies in the climatic conditions of the Quaternary Ice Ages and the affect they had on continental geography, environment, climate and, most importantly, the biogeography of the megafauna. This book presents the evidence of this theory, demonstrating the biogeographic approach to Australia’s megafauna extinction. Written clearly to benefit a diverse level of readers, from those with a passing interest to professionals in the field. Examines future climate change and its effects on the planet by looking at examples buried in the past Presents new evidence from extensive field research
Meet The Megafauna 2
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Author : Elaine Ouston
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2020-11-13
Meet The Megafauna 2 written by Elaine Ouston and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2020-11-13 with Juvenile Nonfiction categories.
Meet the Megafauna introduces children to the large and unusual animals that lived in Australia before and just after humans arrived. Some of them became the animals we have now but many are now extinct.
Megafauna
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Author : Gabrielle Balkan
language : en
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Release Date : 2023-08-15
Megafauna written by Gabrielle Balkan and has been published by Workman Publishing Company this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2023-08-15 with Juvenile Nonfiction categories.
An interactive (complete with gatefolds!), large-format exploration of megafauna, the mostly-extinct class of ginormous animals that thrived during the Pleistocene era after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Meet a giant armored armadillo, a giant sloth, and the three megafauna still found on earth today—African Bush Elephant, Masai Giraffe, and the Blue Whale.
Meet The Megafauna
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Author : Elaine Ouston
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2015-08-01
Meet The Megafauna written by Elaine Ouston and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015-08-01 with categories.
This book is educational and introduces the young reader to Australia's unique megafauna in an entertaining way. It is written as if the animals are presenting themselves to the reader. The book was written at the request of school librarians who purchased my fantasy series for middle readers featuring the megafauna of Australia. They asked for an entertaining book for younger readers with illustrations of the animals. A series of illustrated books will follow featuring two of the animals interacting as they would have in the wild. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, many large and unusual animals lived in Australia. Some lived with the dinosaurs, but many were still here 50,000 years ago when humans arrived in our land. Some have survived to become the animals we see today. But some, sadly, died out like the dinosaurs. Step into Nida Valley, where they still roam. They are waiting to tell you all about themselves.
American Megafaunal Extinctions At The End Of The Pleistocene
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Author : Gary Haynes
language : en
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Release Date : 2008-12-23
American Megafaunal Extinctions At The End Of The Pleistocene written by Gary Haynes and has been published by Springer Science & Business Media this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2008-12-23 with Science categories.
The volume contains summaries of facts, theories, and unsolved problems pertaining to the unexplained extinction of dozens of genera of mostly large terrestrial mammals, which occurred ca. 13,000 calendar years ago in North America and about 1,000 years later in South America. Another equally mysterious wave of extinctions affected large Caribbean islands around 5,000 years ago. The coupling of these extinctions with the earliest appearance of human beings has led to the suggestion that foraging humans are to blame, although major climatic shifts were also taking place in the Americas during some of the extinctions. The last published volume with similar (but not identical) themes -- Extinctions in Near Time -- appeared in 1999; since then a great deal of innovative, exciting new research has been done but has not yet been compiled and summarized. Different chapters in this volume provide in-depth resumés of the chronology of the extinctions in North and South America, the possible insights into animal ecology provided by studies of stable isotopes and anatomical/physiological characteristics such as growth increments in mammoth and mastodont tusks, the clues from taphonomic research about large-mammal biology, the applications of dating methods to the extinctions debate, and archeological controversies concerning human hunting of large mammals.
Vanished Giants
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Author : Anthony J. Stuart
language : en
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Release Date : 2021-01-28
Vanished Giants written by Anthony J. Stuart and has been published by University of Chicago Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-01-28 with Science categories.
Featuring numerous illustrations, this book explores the many lessons to be learned from Pleistocene megafauna, including the role of humans in their extinction, their disappearance at the start of the Sixth Extinction, and what they might teach us about contemporary conservation crises. Long after the extinction of dinosaurs, when humans were still in the Stone Age, woolly rhinos, mammoths, mastodons, sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, and many other spectacular large animals that are no longer with us roamed the Earth. These animals are regarded as “Pleistocene megafauna,” named for the geological era in which they lived—also known as the Ice Age. In Vanished Giants: The Lost World of the Ice Age, paleontologist Anthony J. Stuart explores the lives and environments of these animals, moving between six continents and several key islands. Stuart examines the animals themselves via what we’ve learned from fossil remains, and he describes the landscapes, climates, vegetation, ecological interactions, and other aspects of the animals’ existence. Illustrated throughout, Vanished Giants also offers a picture of the world as it was tens of thousands of years ago when these giants still existed. Unlike the case of the dinosaurs, there was no asteroid strike to blame for the end of their world. Instead, it appears that the giants of the Ice Age were driven to extinction by climate change, human activities—especially hunting—or both. Drawing on the latest evidence provided by radiocarbon dating, Stuart discusses these possibilities. The extinction of Ice Age megafauna can be seen as the beginning of the so-called Sixth Extinction, which is happening right now. This has important implications for understanding the likely fate of present-day animals in the face of contemporary climate change and vastly increasing human populations.