An entertaining and informative guide to an astonishing and little-known world
The region around Cincinnati, Ohio, is known throughout the world for the abundant and beautiful fossils found in limestones and shales that were deposited as sediments on the sea floor during the Ordovician Period, about 450 million years ago-some 250 million years before the dinosaurs lived. In Ordovician time, the shallow sea that covered much of what is now the North American continent teemed with marine life. The Cincinnati area has yielded some of the world's most abundant and best-preserved fossils of invertebrate animals such as trilobites, bryozoans, brachiopods, molluscs, echinoderms, and graptolites. So famous are the Ordovician fossils and rocks of the Cincinnati region that geologists use the term "e;Cincinnatian"e; for strata of the same age all over North America. This book synthesizes more than 150 years of research on this fossil treasure-trove, describing and illustrating the fossils, the life habits of the animals represented, their communities, and living relatives, as well as the nature of the rock strata in which they are found and the environmental conditions of the ancient sea.
Discoveries of ancient vertebrates are eroding the traditionally recognized differences between the principal groups of vertebrates and radically changing our understanding of the evolutionary history of the major group of animals to which our species belongs. This book describes this changing scientific landscape.
The Cambrian Period was a critical time in Earth's history during this immense span of time nearly every modern group of animals appeared. This book deals with the life and times of the amazing animals that inhabited Earth more than 500 million years ago.
Told in rich detail and with gorgeous color recreations, this is the story of marine life in the age before the dinosaurs. During the Middle Triassic Period (247-237 million years ago), the mountain of Monte San Giorgio in Switzerland was a tropical lagoon. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it boasts an astonishing fossil record of marine life from that time. Attracted to an incredibly diverse and well-preserved set of fossils, Swiss and Italian paleontologists have been excavating the mountain since 1850.Synthesizing and interpreting over a century of discoveries through a critical twenty-first century lens, paleontologist Olivier Rieppel tells for the first time the complete story of the fish and marine reptiles who made that long-ago lagoon their home. Through careful analysis and vividly rendered recreations, he offers memorable glimpses of not only what Thalattosaurs, Protorosaurs, Ichthyosaurs, Pachypleurosaurs, and other marine life looked like but how they moved and lived in the lagoon. An invaluable resource for specialists and accessible to all, this book is essential to all who are fascinated with ancient marine life.
Over millions of years, Australia's biodiversity has produced a large cabinet of curiosities. Among the weirder members of this group were the Mihirungs, members of the extinct family Dromornithidae. This book is the study of this diverse group.
A wide-ranging volume of analytic and methodological essays on microvertebrate fossils
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. This book presents their story, which is part of a larger story of a world emerging from the greenhouse conditions of the Mesozoic.
With their spectacularly enlarged canines, sabertooth cats are among the most popular of prehistoric animals, yet it is surprising how little information about them is available for the curious layperson. What's more, there were other sabertooths that were not cats, animals with exotic names like nimravids, barbourofelids, and thylacosmilids. Some were no taller than a domestic cat, others were larger than a lion, and some were as weird as their names suggest. Sabertooths continue to pose questions even for specialists. What did they look like? How did they use their spectacular canine teeth? And why did they finally go extinct? In this visual and intellectual treat of a book, Mauricio Anton tells their story in words and pictures, all scrupulously based on the latest scientific research. The book is a glorious wedding of science and art that celebrates the remarkable diversity of the life of the not-so-distant past.
Showcases research of broad botanical and paleontological interest from the world's experts on Mesozoic plant life. This title covers various aspects of plant group - ranging from horsetails to ginkgophytes, from cycads to conifers - and relates them to key innovations in structure, phylogenetic relationships, Mesozoic vegetation.
An up-to-date exploration of vertebrate cave life during the Ice Age
Echinoderms (which include such animals as sea stars, crinoids or sea lilies, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers) have left useful fossil record. This volume highlights the modern study of fossil echinoderms.
Aimed at the general reader, Jurassic West, Second Edition recounts the discovery of many important Late Jurassic dinosaurs made at the famous bone beds of the Morrison Formation.
The story of expeditions into Africa in search of dinosaur bones.
Overs the years, the world was filled with fabulous creatures. There were wooly elephants and rhinos, saber-toothed cats, great wolves and lions, giant tortoises - and in Australia giant lizards. Megalania was one of those. This title tells the story of these amazing lizards and the world in which they lived.
The Ornithopods include Iguanodon, one of the first dinosaurs ever discovered and analyzed, and perhaps the best-documented group, the hadrosaurs or 'duckbilled dinosaurs.' The Ceratopsians include Triceratops, known for its distinctive three-horned skull and protective collar. This book collects information on these two groups of animals.
Patagonia has been one of the most attractive places for explorers and paleontologists. This work gathers together our knowledge about the evolution of the region and its reptiles. It demonstrates that Patagonia during the Mesozoic gives a distinct perspective on the evolution of life during a key chapter in the geological history of this region.
In 1961, while mapping rock exposures along the Colville River in Alaska, an oil company geologist would unknowingly find the evidence for a startling discovery. Long before the North Slope of Alaska was being exploited for its petroleum resources it was a place where dinosaurs roamed. Dinosaurs under the Aurora immerses readers in the challenges, stark beauty, and hard-earned rewards of conducting paleontological field work in the Arctic. Roland A. Gangloff recounts the significant discoveries of field and museum research on Arctic dinosaurs, most notably of the last 25 years when the remarkable record of dinosaurs from Alaska was compiled. This research has changed the way we think about dinosaurs and their world. Examining long-standing controversies, such as the end-Cretaceous extinction of dinosaurs and whether dinosaurs were residents or just seasonal visitors to polar latitudes, Gangloff takes readers on a delightful and instructive journey into the world of paleontology as it is conducted in the land under the aurora.
Deals with the iconic dinosaur Iguanodon and its world
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