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This is a book about the evolution of mammals, written by the paleontologist Stephen Brusatte. I previously enjoyed his The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs. Mammalian history is equally interesting, if not more so. After reading Brusatte’s excellent first book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. It’s a simple but profound statement that bears repeating: the biggest animal that has ever lived is alive right now. Of all the billions of species that have lived during the billions of years of Earth history, we are among the privileged few that can say such a thing. How glorious is it that we breathe the same air as a blue whale, swim in the same waters, and gaze at the same stars?” A fascinating book about mammals, starting with their origins in the Carboniferous, alongside the group that would become the dinosaurs, then following their development through the various ages before becoming the dominant large animals after the downfall of the non-avian dinosaurs. The book makes clear that mammals did not develop from dinosaurs, nor were mammals prevented from diversifying during the age of dinosaurs (some common myths). Instead, mammals may be small, but they diversified and occupied various ecological niches before the asteroid strike gave mammals the opportunity to get large. Even then, it was not a given that our kind of mammals (placentals) would dominate the Earth, as placentals shared it with other kinds of mammals before eventually dominating the Earth. The book closes with a look at the current extinction crisis being faced by mammals (and other animals).
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from
Science News was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of science, medicine and technology. Today, our mission remains the same: to empower people to evaluate the news and the world around them. It is published by the Society for Science, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education (EIN 53-0196483). For the big-picture perspective, it’s hard to imagine a better place to start than Steve Brusatte’s fun-yet-magisterial The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, detailing mammals’ 325-million-year residency on earth. ... The author of a previous bestselling book on dinosaurs, American-born, Scotland-based Brusatte has emerged as something of a star in the paleontology world. It helps that he’s young, charismatic, and has good writing chops: each of the book’s sections begins by drawing us in with a cinematic 'clip.'" — Globe and Mail (Toronto) PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Rise_and_Reign_of_the_Mammals_-_Steve_Brusatte.pdf, The_Rise_and_Reign_of_the_Mammals_-_Steve_Brusatte.epub It wouldn't be a history of mammals without covering the most infamous mammal of them all: Homo Sapiens. Our ancestry is no less fascinating than those of the long extinct animals that have captivated our imaginations for decades. Lastly, Brusatte wraps up his book by considering the future of mammals. You can likely guess that major discussion points there. Brusatte also describes a second small, curious adaptation: the transformation of two bones in the reptile jaw, which migrated to the middle ear to become two members of a famous trio, the hammer and anvil (the third is the stirrup). These middle ear bones are the basis for yet another key mammalian feature: the ability to hear a wide range of frequencies, particularly in the upper register ( SN Online: 12/6/19).
Customer reviews
The main subject matter – i.e. the evolution and spread of the mammals – is interwoven with personal stories and scientific contributions of various members of the academic community, but the proportions are healthy – just a wee bit of gossip that nicely blends with the main story, and it’s all friendly, with the purpose to recognise the achievements of the Author’s colleagues. A fascinating account of how mammals survived the great extinction that destroyed the dinosaurs and evolved to their current position of dominance. A worthy sequel to [Steve Brusatte's] The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. Neil Shubin, bestselling author of Your Inner Fish and University of Chicago paleontologist A fascinating account of how mammals survived the great extinction that destroyed the dinosaurs and evolved to their current position of dominance. A worthy sequel to [Steve Brusatte's] The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs.
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals - Google Books
Out of this long and rich evolutionary history came the mammals of today, including our own species and our closest cousins. But today’s 6,000 mammal species - the egg-laying monotremes including the platypus, marsupials such as kangaroos and koalas that raise their tiny babies in pouches, and placentals like us, who give birth to well-developed young – are simply the few survivors of a once verdant family tree, which has been pruned both by time and mass extinctions. The effusive American even began as a T rex expert before branching out into studying mammal fossils. But there’s a simple reason why he’s so passionate about the latter. As he says in his new book: “Dinosaurs are awesome, but they are not us.”I've previously read Brusatte's book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World. As he tells in the beginning of this volume, he was lured into paleontology by dinosaurs, those fearsome extinct creatures that have enraptured generations of children. I was one of those kids, so his dinosaur book was retreading well known territory for me. It was written in an accessible style and I was delighted when I realized that he had penned a similar book about early mammals.
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