Beasts before us : the untold story of mammal origins and evolution / Elsa Panciroli.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Panciroli, Elsa, author.

Series:

Bloomsbury Sigma series

Bloomsbury sigma series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mammals--Evolution.

Mammals.

Mammals, Fossil.

Physical Description:

320 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.

Other Title:

Untold story of mammal origins and evolution

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Sigma, 2021.

Summary:

"For most of us, the story of mammal evolution starts after the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, but over the last 20 years scientists have uncovered new fossils and used new technologies that have upended this story. In Beasts Before Us, palaeontologist Elsa Panciroli charts the emergence of the mammal lineage, Synapsida, beginning at their murky split from the reptiles in the Carboniferous period, over three-hundred million years ago. They made the world theirs long before the rise of dinosaurs. Travelling forward into the Permian and then Triassic periods, we learn how our ancient mammal ancestors evolved from large hairy beasts with accelerating metabolisms to exploit miniaturisation, which was key to unlocking the traits that define mammals as we now know them"--provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Isle of Mists and Lagoons

ch. 2 A Thoroughly Modern Platypus

ch. 3 Like a Hole in the Head

ch. 4 The First Age of Mammals

ch. 5 Hot-blooded Hunters

ch. 6 A Total Disaster

ch. 7 Milk Tooth

ch. 8 Digital Bones

ch. 9 Chinese Revelations

ch. 10 Time of Revolt

ch. 11 The Journey Home.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-313) and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781472983824

1472983823

OCLC:

1222056112