Origin Africa : A Natural History / Jonathan Kingdon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kingdon, Jonathan, 1935- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human evolution--Africa.

Human evolution.

Natural history--Africa.

Natural history.

Africa--History.

Africa.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 472 pages) : illustrations (some color), maps

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2023]

Summary:

From a leading expert on the natural history of Africa, an original and personal account of how the continent's ecosystems enabled human evolutionAfrica was the evolutionary cradle for Homo sapiens. But what was it about Africa's ecosystems that made human evolution possible? In Origin Africa, Jonathan Kingdon, a leading expert on the natural history of Africa, sets human evolution within its African context, examining the natural conditions that enabled the rise of humans and the flowering of the continent, from preexisting geological factors and the broad-scale evolution of plants and animals to the emergence of hominids and beyond. Richly illustrated, the book features a wealth of photographs, artwork, and diagrams. Few people have the breadth of knowledge required to tackle this story and no one can tell it as well as Kingdon.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1. What is Africa?

Chapter 2. Gondwana's Core

Chapter 3. Dawn and Consequences from Chance

Chapter 4. Afloat on Planet Ocean (Adrift and Heading North)

Chapter 5. Global Wobbles and Climate Change

Chapter 6. Habitats Defined by Plants

Chapter 7. Emigration and Immigration

Chapter 8. Diversity

Highs and Lows

Chapter 9. Succession

Chapter 10. Diseases and Plagues

Chapter 11. Louder, Softer, Bigger, Smaller, Faster, Slower, Duller, Brighter

Chapter 12. Behaviour Drives Morphology

Chapter 13. Ecological Elders

Chapter 14. Import and Export of Primates

Chapter 15. Slow but Smart

Chapter 16. The Boreal, Latitudinal Realm

Chapter 17. The Austral, Longitudinal Realm

Chapter 18. Niche-thieves

Chapter 19. Out of Africa and Back Again

the Banda Strandlopers

Chapter 20. Translating Nature

Chapter 21. Mind and Memory

Chapter 22. Process as Principle

Further Reading

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-458) and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691249032

0691249032

OCLC:

1378393184