Twilight of the Mammoths Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Audible Audio Edition) Paul S Martin Michael Prichard University Press Audiobooks Books
Download As PDF : Twilight of the Mammoths Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Audible Audio Edition) Paul S Martin Michael Prichard University Press Audiobooks Books
As recently as 11,000 years ago - "near time" to geologists - mammoths, mastodons, gomphotheres, ground sloths, giant armadillos, native camels and horses, the dire wolf, and many other large mammals roamed North America. In what has become one of science's greatest riddles, these large animals vanished in North and South America around the time humans arrived at the end of the last great ice age.
Part paleontological adventure and part memoir, Twilight of the Mammoths presents in detail internationally renowned paleoecologist Paul Martin's widely discussed and debated "overkill" hypothesis to explain these mysterious megafauna extinctions. Taking us from Rampart cave in the Grand Canyon, where he finds himself "chest deep in sloth dung", to other important fossil sites in Arizona and Chile, Martin's engaging book, written for a wide audience, uncovers our rich evolutionary legacy and shows why he has come to believe that the earliest Americans literally hunted these animals to death.
As he discusses the discoveries that brought him to this hypothesis, Martin relates many colorful stories and gives a rich overview of the field of paleontology as well as his own fascinating career. He explores the ramifications of the overkill hypothesis for similar extinctions worldwide and examines other explanations for the extinctions, including climate change. Martin's visionary thinking about our missing megafauna offers inspiration and a challenge for today's conservation efforts as he speculates on what we might do to remedy this situation - both in our thinking about what is "natural" and in the natural world itself.
This book is published by University of California Press.Twilight of the Mammoths Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Audible Audio Edition) Paul S Martin Michael Prichard University Press Audiobooks Books
Dr. Paul Martin, the foremost proponent of the overkill theorem regarding Pleistocene/Holocene megafaunal extinctions, presents here the basics of the argument, along with anecdotes from his own career, and his suggestions for refilling some of the ecological niches vacated by the extinct megafauna.Most of the book focusses on Dr. Martin's work in the American Southwest, in particular, his study of pack rat middens in the Grand Canyon and the remarkable Rampart Cave, one of the truly amazing paleontological sites in the United States. There are interesting discussions of the tantalizing clues that point in the direction of overkill as the cause of extinction - clues left both by the living and the dead - mammoth butchering sites; ecological "orphans" (osage orange, Kentucky coffee); pronghorn antelope speed needed to escape long-vanished American cheetahs; analogous disappearances of megafauna worldwide immediately upon human arrival (New Zealand, Madagascar et al).
The final parts of the book discuss how a truly natural American landscape might look, and suggests that a reintroduction of species we would view as exotic - elephants, camels, lions, etc - would in fact be a restart of evolution with guild members only recently absent.
Well worthwhile, as is all of Dr. Martin's work.
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Twilight of the Mammoths Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Audible Audio Edition) Paul S Martin Michael Prichard University Press Audiobooks Books Reviews
For years Professor Martin has been making a convincing case that mass extinctions and extirpations occured whenever people arrived at a new location, from Hawaii and New Zealand to North America and Wrangel Island. In the book he shows that arguments against human-caused die-offs do not hold up. What was interesting to me was his idea of reintroductions. It had never occured to me that it might be beneficial to the ecosystems to replace the extinct populations with new populations. I would love to see it happen but of course I'm not holding my breath. It is hard enough to convince people to live with pumas, despite the indisputable fact that you are far more likely to die in a collision with a deer than by getting eaten by a predator. But reading the book gave me a new perspective on some of our debates about wild areas. In particular, I will definately look at feral horses and donkeys in a new light.
great book I enjoyed it.
This is a great read! I agree with most of what the author says.
Great book detailing the "Overkill" theory that has been championed by Martin for years now. Hopefully he is seeing some justification for his work as now most computer models detailing human migration and breeding patterns do indeed show that the first migrants to a new continent could indeed wipe out an entire genre of species.
book is so important if you are to understand life at the time of the Pleistocene! lots of info and more than just a book about prehistoric life !!
More technical book about a subject I find absolutely fascinating, the late pliestocene megafauna extinctions. What a strange world North America was just 20,000 years ago!!!
I have read this book several times, as well as a number of other books on the subject and independent research as well, and to me, the author pts together in one volume just about all of the most cogent arguments in favor of human-caused extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna. While there is certainly much more that can be said on the subject (the 'mammoth steppe' being a CREATION of the mammoth, not the other way around, etc), here are the soundest and best proved discussions. For those interested in the 'Pleistocene Park' project, I refer you to Sergei Zimov, and his marvelous work in Siberia (cehck him out on google).
Dr. Paul Martin, the foremost proponent of the overkill theorem regarding Pleistocene/Holocene megafaunal extinctions, presents here the basics of the argument, along with anecdotes from his own career, and his suggestions for refilling some of the ecological niches vacated by the extinct megafauna.
Most of the book focusses on Dr. Martin's work in the American Southwest, in particular, his study of pack rat middens in the Grand Canyon and the remarkable Rampart Cave, one of the truly amazing paleontological sites in the United States. There are interesting discussions of the tantalizing clues that point in the direction of overkill as the cause of extinction - clues left both by the living and the dead - mammoth butchering sites; ecological "orphans" (osage orange, Kentucky coffee); pronghorn antelope speed needed to escape long-vanished American cheetahs; analogous disappearances of megafauna worldwide immediately upon human arrival (New Zealand, Madagascar et al).
The final parts of the book discuss how a truly natural American landscape might look, and suggests that a reintroduction of species we would view as exotic - elephants, camels, lions, etc - would in fact be a restart of evolution with guild members only recently absent.
Well worthwhile, as is all of Dr. Martin's work.
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