After the Dinosaurs: The Age of MammalsIndiana University Press, 13 июл. 2006 г. - Всего страниц: 370 A fascinating study of the thousands of new animal species that walked in the footsteps of the dinosaurs—and the climate changes that brought them forth. The fascinating group of animals called dinosaurs became extinct some 65 million years ago (except for their feathered descendants). In their place evolved an enormous variety of land creatures, especially mammals, which in their way were every bit as remarkable as their Mesozoic cousins. The Age of Mammals, the Cenozoic Era, has never had its Jurassic Park, but it was an amazing time in earth’s history, populated by a wonderful assortment of bizarre animals. The rapid evolution of thousands of species of mammals brought forth many incredible creatures―including our own ancestors. Their story is part of a larger story of new life emerging from the greenhouse conditions of the Mesozoic, warming up dramatically about 55 million years ago, and then cooling rapidly so that 33 million years ago the glacial ice returned. The earth’s vegetation went through equally dramatic changes, from tropical jungles in Montana and forests at the poles. Life in the sea underwent striking evolution reflecting global climate change, including the emergence of such creatures as giant sharks, seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales. Engaging and insightful, After the Dinosaurs is a book for everyone who has an abiding fascination with the remarkable life of the past. |
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| 1 | |
| 23 | |
The Paleocene | 45 |
The Eocene | 83 |
The Oligocene | 141 |
The Miocene | 181 |
The Pliocene | 233 |
The Pleistocene | 259 |
The Holocene | 299 |
| 315 | |
| 349 | |
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abundant Africa animals Antarctic archaic Arikareean artiodactyls Asia Badlands Basin beardogs beds benthic Berggren boundary brontotheres camels Cenozoic climate continents cooling creodonts Cretaceous deer deposits dinosaurs diversity dominated earliest early Eocene early Oligocene earth endemic entelodonts Eocene Eocene-Oligocene Eurasia Europe evolved families fauna Figure floras foraminifera forests Formation fossils genera Geological geologists giant glacial glaciers global groups Holocene hoofed mammals horns horses huge hyaenodont ice age ice sheets immigrants impact interglacial K/T event known land mammal ages late Eocene late Oligocene late Paleocene living mammoths marine marsupials mass extinction mastodonts mesonychids meters middle Eocene million Miocene modern mollusks North America oceans Oligocene oxygen isotope Pacific Paleocene paleontologists pantodonts perissodactyls Photo courtesy planktonic plants Pleistocene Pliocene predators primitive Prothero radiation record regions rhinos rocks rodents sabertoothed sediments shells skull snail South species subtropical survived teeth temperature tillodonts trend tropical warm whales Zachos
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Стр. 338 - ZACHOS, JC, BREZA, JR and WISE, SW, 1992. Early Oligocene ice-sheet expansion on Antarctica. Stable isotope and sedimentological evidence from Kerguelen Plateau, southern Indian Ocean. Geology, 20: 569-573.
Стр. 319 - Hutchison, JH, 1982. Turtle, crocodilian, and champsosaur diversity changes in the Cenozoic of the north-central region of western United States. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v.
Стр. xiii - We are grateful to the National Science Foundation and the Petroleum Research Fund of the American Chemical Society for support of this research.
Стр. 1 - Fossil hunting is far the most fascinating of all sports. I speak for myself, although I do not see how any true sportsman could fail to agree with me if he had tried bone digging. It has some danger, enough to give it zest and probably about as much as in the average modern engineered big-game hunt, and the danger is wholly to the hunter. It has uncertainty and excitement and all the thrills of gambling with none of its vicious features. The hunter never knows what his bag may be, perhaps nothing,...