The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte – explains how mammals, which include the human race, became ascendant. Discoveries have now been made by dedicated palaeontologists that their roots formed some 325 million years ago. They lie even further back than those of the dinosaurs over 200 million years ago.
Mammals evolved over those 325 million years in a way that dinosaurs did not. They developed features that assured their survival through the effects of climate change, brought about by the arrival of a catastrophic asteroid, the subsequent ice ages and ever-changing climate, and food sources. Over time they changed in size, shape and diversity. They developed features such as hair, keen senses of smell and hearing, and larger brains, hence advanced intelligence. They became fast-growing and developed a warm-blooded metabolism and mammary glands to feed their young. These, and many more qualities, have made the mammal a sustainable success.
From this long and chequered history evolved the mammals that we know so well today. And, of course, they include the human species and our closest relations. Today’s mammal species total around 6,000, from the egg-laying monotremes, which include the echidna and platypus, the pouched marsupials, such as the koala and kangaroo, which raise their young in pouches, and the placentals like us, who give birth to well-developed young. All have survived whereas others have passed into history, becoming extinct due to the aforementioned changes that have taken place on this planet over millions of years.
Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte has written an account of these changes like no other. He explains just how, by the untiring devotion to detail, and decades of very meticulous and hard work by scientists and other dedicated fieldworkers, groundbreaking (literally!) new discoveries have been made. These amazing people have provided the rest of us with so much more knowledge than we have ever had before. Testaments of their work reside in museums worldwide, as they uncover more and yet more incredible fossil remains.
Brusatte breathes new, interesting and exciting life into what some may regard as a rather dull subject. He is to palaeontology what Brian Cox is to astronomy! Both are brilliant purveyors of previously unknown discoveries and truly dedicated to their own fields.
If you only read one book this year, this is it. I guarantee you will never see yourself or your fellow mammals in the same light again, AND, you will discover why we should all look after our teeth!
ISBN: 9781529034226
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals is available in hardback, paperback and e-book
About Professor Steve Brusatte
Professor Steve Brusatte is a palaeontologist on the faculty of the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He grew up in the Midwestern United States and has a BS in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago, an MSc in Palaeobiology from the University of Bristol (UK), and a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University in New York. Steve is widely recognized as one of the leading palaeontologists of his generation. His 2018 book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, was a Sunday Times bestseller, and he is the science consultant for Jurassic World 3, the third film in the Jurassic Park franchise.
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