Beasts of Eden: Walking Whales, Dawn Horses, and Other Enigmas of Mammal EvolutionMammals first evolved at about the same time as dinosaurs, and their story is perhaps the more fascinating of the two—in part because it is also our own story. In this literate and entertaining book, eminent naturalist David Rains Wallace brings the saga of ancient mammals to a general audience for the first time. Using artist Rudolph Zallinger's majestic The Age of Mammals mural at the Peabody Museum as a frame for his narrative, Wallace deftly moves over varied terrain—drawing from history, science, evolutionary theory, and art history—to present a lively account of fossil discoveries and an overview of what those discoveries have revealed about early mammals and their evolution. In these pages we encounter towering mammoths, tiny horses, giant-clawed ground sloths, whales with legs, uintatheres, zhelestids, and other exotic extinct creatures as well as the scientists who discovered and wondered about their remains. We meet such memorable figures as Georges Cuvier, Richard Owen, Edward D. Cope, George Gaylord Simpson, and Stephen Jay Gould and learn of their heated disputes, from Cuvier's and Owen's fights with early evolutionists to present controversies over the Late Cretaceous mass extinction. Wallace's own lifelong interest in evolution is reflected in the book's evocative and engaging style and in the personal experiences he expertly weaves into the tale, providing an altogether expansive perspective on what Darwin described as the "grandeur" of evolution. |
Contents
Pachyderms in the Catacombs | 1 |
Megatherium and Glyptodon Pleistocene from Zallingers | 2 |
Cuviers restorations of Paris gypsum mammals | 9 |
Dr Jekyll and the Stonesfield Jaws | 14 |
The Origin of Mammals | 25 |
Coryphodon and Oxyaena with Pelycodus Eocene from Zallingers | 27 |
Caricature by Frederick Waddy of Richard Owen astride | 37 |
The Noblest Conquest 41 5 Terrible Horns and Heavy Feet | 54 |
Love and Theory | 135 |
Simpsons CynodonttoSmilodon Synthesis | 145 |
Diatryma and Mesonyx Eocene from Zallingers Age of Mammals | 154 |
Shifting Ground | 157 |
Dissolving Ancestries | 166 |
Exploding Faunas | 176 |
The Revenge of the Shell Hunters | 188 |
Simpson Redivivus | 198 |
Uintatherium and Eobasileus Eocene from Zallingers | 55 |
Skeletons of Pantolambda and Coryphodon | 67 |
Mr Megatherium versus Professor Mylodon | 70 |
Punchs 1890 cartoon of O C Marsh with a uintathere | 75 |
Fire Beasts of the Antipodes 79 8 Titans on Parade | 91 |
Brontops and Palaeolagus with Archaeotherium Oligocene from | 93 |
Erwin Christmans restoration of titanothere evolution | 99 |
FiveToed Horses and Missing Links | 104 |
E R Fuldas restoration of the giant Mongolian mesonychid Andrewsarchus | 113 |
The Invisible Dawn Man | 115 |
Smilodon and Bison Pleistocene from Zallingers Age of Mammals | 121 |
A Bonaparte of Beasts | 123 |
Aepycamelus and Gomphotherium Miocene from Zallingers Age of Mammals | 124 |
Winds Thieves of the Kyzylkum | 207 |
Eomaia scansoria painting by Mark A Klingler | 214 |
The Serpents Offering | 216 |
Serpent in tree Paleocene from Zallingers Age of Mammals | 217 |
Jacob Wortman with dinosaur bones | 222 |
Anthropoid Leapfrog | 233 |
Simpson with a bush baby | 247 |
epilogue cenozoic parks | 249 |
Rudolph F Zallinger with his Age of Mammals | 251 |
notes | 261 |
297 | |
315 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adaptation American ancestors animals anthropoid apes appeared beasts became bones called cause close collection continued Cope Cope’s Coryphodon creatures Cretaceous Cuvier Darwin described dinosaurs discovered early Eocene evidence evolution evolutionary evolved expedition extinction fact fauna Figure forms fossils genera genus giant Gould ground head horse human Huxley ibid idea impact included jaws known land Late Cretaceous later least less living look mammalian mammals Marsh marsupials Matthew Mesozoic million molars mural Museum named natural never North organisms origins Osborn Owen painted Paleocene paleontologists past Peabody perhaps plants Pleistocene possible primates probably progress record relatively remains reptiles resembled scientific seemed selection showed similar simply Simpson skeleton skull South species suggested teeth Tertiary theory things thought tion took tree turned ungulates vertebrate World World monkeys wrote young Zallinger Zallinger’s