End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals

Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller--including gorilla-sized lemurs, 500-pound birds, and crocodiles that weighed a ton or more--roamed the earth. These great beasts, or "megafauna," lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone.

What caused the disappearance of these prehistoric behemoths? No one event can be pinpointed as a specific cause, but several factors may have played a role. Paleomammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee explores them all, examining the leading extinction theories, weighing the evidence, and presenting his own conclusions. He shows how theories of human overhunting and catastrophic climate change fail to account for critical features of these extinctions, and how new thinking is needed to elucidate these mysterious losses.

Along the way, we learn how time is determined in earth history; how DNA is used to explain the genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna--and how synthetic biology and genetic engineering may be able to reintroduce these giants of the past. Until then, gorgeous four-color illustrations by Peter Schouten re-create these megabeasts here in vivid detail.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 11/13/2018
ISBN: 9780393249293
Pages: 256
Weight: 2.30lbs
Size: 10.20h x 8.20w x 0.90d

Review Citations: Library Journal 11/01/2018 pg. 82
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2018
Publishers Weekly 09/17/2018
Booklist 12/01/2018 pg. 16