The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us

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Steve Brusatte, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, brings mammals out from the shadow of their more showy predecessors in a beautifully written book that [...] makes the case for them as creatures who are just as engaging as dinosaurs."

The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the

It’s a simple but profound statement that bears repeating: the biggest animal that has ever lived is alive right now. Of all the billions of species that have lived during the billions of years of Earth history, we are among the privileged few that can say such a thing. How glorious is it that we breathe the same air as a blue whale, swim in the same waters, and gaze at the same stars?” After reading Brusatte’s excellent first book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals.Mammals and Changing Climates: during the Oligocene and Miocene periods, other recognizable mammals like rhinos, camels, horses would appear. Grasslands would develop and spread during a cooler and dryer climate. Mammals would form various adaptations for eating grass, like having longer teeth or constantly growing teeth. During this time, the Marsupials in the southern continents would start to die out, replaced by placental animals, except in Australia. As natural selection got to work, one population accrued adaptations that would eventually give rise to mammals. Chief among them was a single opening behind the eyes – allowing for bigger, stronger jaw muscles – and teeth specialised for different purposes.

THE RISE AND REIGN OF THE MAMMALS | Kirkus Reviews THE RISE AND REIGN OF THE MAMMALS | Kirkus Reviews

Upper-side 3D rendering of content inside a burrow: Thrinaxodon and Broomistega. Photograph: Creative Commons Attribution LicenseTodd Marshall What helps with these explanations are some excellent illustrations. B/w photos show amazing fossils, Todd Marshall contributes both decorative chapter headings and explanatory artwork, and Brusatte's former student Sarah Shelley adds b/w diagrams, illustrating for instance the remarkable changes in jaw bones and how some of these were repurposed to become our inner ear bones! Woven throughout are stories of the people behind the research. Brusatte introduces both young scientists and many past scientists that are not widely known. A whirlwind tour of mammal evolution. … Brusatte’s deep knowledge of the fossil record creates a rich tapestryin which each thread is a mammalian lineage. These interwoven threads dip in and out intermittently and sometimes disappear altogether in the finality of extinction, but those that remain always unspool in a bright burst of color to fill the gap.”— Science So fascinating and well written. Seriously, so many amazing facts written in an engaging way. I loved The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and I loved this just as much if not more!Mammal Ancestors: the story of mammals starts in the Carboniferous period. Two groups of animals would develop from the early amphibians: the Diapsids (reptiles and dinosaurs) and Synapsids (mammals). As the climate became drier, they diversified in various ways. For Synapsids, their teeth would become diverse, allowing them to handle different kinds of food. The Synapsids would lead to the Therapsids, who have a more upright posture. At this time, indications that this group is becoming warm-blooded become apparent. They would also develop one mammalian feature: hair. A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting. Watching these pieces of the past come together was deeply gratifying, if not a little dizzying. The present is so familiar that it feels inevitable. But it was striking to see modern civilization, even modern humans, in context, to recognize how all that we are now actually hinges on countless moments of invention, improvement and experimentation in the deep past. I blew through this in 3 days and may or may not have put off other important things to do so because I couldn’t put it down.