ENGLISH

Megafauna : Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America

By Sebastian , Fariña , Richard A.; Vizcaíno , Sergio F.; De Iuliis , Gerry; Tambusso

Book information

Publisher
Indiana University Press
Year
2013
ISBN
9780253002303
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
30 MB (31050302 bytes)
Series
Life of the Past
Pages
457\457
Topic
Geology
Orientation
yes
Paginated
yes
Scanned
portrait
Time added
2015-07-08 21:17:36
Geology Stratigraphic Pleistocene Mammals Fossil S

Description

More than 10,000 years ago spectacularly large mammals roamed the pampas and jungles of South America. This book tells the story of these great beasts during and just after the Pleistocene, the geological epoch marked by the great ice ages. Megafauna describes the history and way of life of these animals, their comings and goings, and what befell them at the beginning of the modern era and the arrival of humans. It places these giants within the context of the other mammals then alive, describing their paleobiology—how they walked;how much they weighed; their diets, behavior, biomechanics; and the interactions among them and with their environment. It also tells the stories of the scientists who contributed to our discovery and knowledge of these transcendent creatures and the environment they inhabited. The episode known as the Great American Biotic Interchange, perhaps the most important of all natural history "experiments," is also an important theme of the book, tracing the biotic events of both North and South America that led to the fauna and the ecosystems discussed in this book.

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