The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us

De: Steve Brusatte

Narrado por: Patrick Lawlor

Duración: 13 h y 25 m

Resumen del Editor

The passing of the age of the dinosaurs allowed mammals to become ascendant. But mammals have a much deeper history. They—or, more precisely, we—originated around the same time as the dinosaurs, more than 200 million years ago; mammal roots lie even further back, some 325 million years.

Over these immense stretches of geological time, mammals developed their trademark features: hair, keen senses of smell and hearing, big brains and sharp intelligence, fast growth and warm-blooded metabolism, a distinctive line-up of teeth (canines, incisors, premolars, molars), mammary glands that mothers use to nourish their babies with milk, qualities that have underlain their success story.

Out of this long and rich evolutionary history came the mammals of today, including our own species and our closest cousins. But today’s 6,000 mammal species—the egg-laying monotremes including the platypus, marsupials such as kangaroos and koalas that raise their tiny babies in pouches and placentals like us, who give birth to well-developed young—are simply the few survivors of a once verdant family tree, which has been pruned both by time and mass extinctions.

In The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, palaeontologist Steve Brusatte weaves together the history and evolution of our mammal forebears with stories of the scientists whose fieldwork and discoveries underlie our knowledge, both of iconic mammals like the mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers of which we have all heard, and of fascinating species that few of us are aware of.

For what we see today is but a very limited range of the mammals that have existed; in this fascinating and groundbreaking book, Steve Brusatte tells their—and our—story.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Steve Brusatte (P)2022 Macmillan Publishers International Limited

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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." (Sunday Times, Best Books For Summer)

"In this terrific new book, Steve Brusatte...brings well-known extinct species, the sabre-toothed tigers and the woolly mammoths, thrillingly back to life." (The Times)

Another Brilliant book

I was waiting for a new book from Steve since his "Dinosaur" book, and a soon as I heard his interview on Science Friday I bought this audiobook! Happiness! It is really a good book, and highly recommended! The way he shares his knowledge and excitement is addictive! Like his previous book this is a must buy!