The Age of Dinosaurs in South America
Author: Fernando E. Novas
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 482
ISBN-13: 0253352894
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe remarkable dinosaur faunas of South America
Posts
Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs
Author: Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2005-02-05
Total Pages: 649
ISBN-13: 0231119186
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFew aspects of American military history have been as vigorously debated as Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan. In this carefully crafted volume, Michael Kort describes the wartime circumstances and thinking that form the context for the decision to use these weapons, surveys the major debates related to that decision, and provides a comprehensive collection of key primary source documents that illuminate the behavior of the United States and Japan during the closing days of World War II. Kort opens with a summary of the debate over Hiroshima as it has evolved since 1945. He then provides a historical overview of thye events in question, beginning with the decision and program to build the atomic bomb. Detailing the sequence of events leading to Japan's surrender, he revisits the decisive battles of the Pacific War and the motivations of American and Japanese leaders. Finally, Kort examines ten key issues in the discussion of Hiroshima and guides readers to relevant primary source documents, scholarly books, and articles.
Giants of the Lost World
Author: Donald R. Prothero
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
Published: 2016-10-04
Total Pages: 193
ISBN-13: 1588345734
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMore than a hundred years ago, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a novel called The Lost World with the exciting premise that dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts still ruled in South America. Little did Conan Doyle know, there were terrifying monsters in South America--they just happened to be extinct. In fact, South America has an incredible history as a land where many strange creatures evolved and died out. In his book Giants of the Lost World: Dinosaurs and Other Extinct Monsters of South America, Donald R. Prothero uncovers the real science and history behind this fascinating story. The largest animal ever discovered was the huge sauropod dinosaur Argentinosaurus, which was about 130 feet long and weighed up to 100 tons. The carnivorous predator Giganotosaurus weighed in at more than 8 tons and measured more than 47 feet long, dwarfing the T. rex in comparison. Gigantic anacondas broke reptile records; possums evolved into huge saber-toothed predators; and ground sloths grew larger than elephants in this strange, unknown land. Prothero presents the scientific details about each of these prehistoric beasts, provides a picture of the ancient landscapes they once roamed, and includes the stories of the individuals who first discovered their fossils for a captivating account of a lost world that is stranger than fiction.
South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs
Author: Alejandro Otero
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: 2022-04-25
Total Pages: 590
ISBN-13: 3030959597
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSauropodomorpha Huene 1932 is one of the most successful groups of dinosaurs, including the most abundant and diverse herbivorous forms with a worldwide record, extending from the late Triassic to the late Cretaceous. Sauropodomorphs comprise a diverse assemblage of early forms (traditionally called “prosauropods”) and the well-established clade Sauropoda Marsh 1878. Early sauropodomorphs were small to medium sized forms, with long necks and reduced skulls, mostly bipeds and omnivores and were abundant in continental environments in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic. With more than 150 valid species and a worldwide distribution, Sauropoda includes the dominant herbivorous dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous. Its unique body plan, characterized by gigantic size, graviportal locomotion, long necks and tails, and reduced skulls, made this group an undisputed icon in popular culture since the 19th century. In South America, the sauropodomorph record is particularly rich and abundant, and many species have shed light to understand important milestones in the evolutionary history of this group of dinosaurs. The origin of Sauropodomorpha, the transition to Sauropoda, and the diversification of its most successful evolutionary lineages are largely exemplified by the South American fossil record. In this contribution, we synthetize the diversity of sauropodomorphs from South America, including data on their geographic and stratigraphic provenance, phylogenetics, paleobiology, taphonomy and behaviour, underscoring their significance within the context of sauropodomorph evolution.
Extinction and Radiation
Author: J. David Archibald
Publisher: JHU Press
Published: 2011-03-15
Total Pages: 121
ISBN-13: 0801898056
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis study identifies the fall of dinosaurs as the factor that allowed mammals to evolve into the dominant tetrapod form. It refutes the single-cause impact theory for dinosaur extinction and demonstrates that multiple factors--massive volcanic eruptions, loss of shallow seas, and extraterrestrial impact--likely led to their demise. While their avian relatives ultimately survived and thrived, terrestrial dinosaurs did not. Taking their place as the dominant land and sea tetrapods were mammals, whose radiation was explosive following nonavian dinosaur extinction. The author argues that because of dinosaurs, Mesozoic mammals changed relatively slowly for 145 million years compared to the prodigious Cenozoic radiation that followed. Finally out from under the shadow of the giant reptiles, Cenozoic mammals evolved into the forms we recognize today in a mere ten million years after dinosaur extinction.
Fossil Legends of the First Americans
Author: Adrienne Mayor
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-10-24
Total Pages: 489
ISBN-13: 1400849314
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe burnt-red badlands of Montana's Hell Creek are a vast graveyard of the Cretaceous dinosaurs that lived 68 million years ago. Those hills were, much later, also home to the Sioux, the Crows, and the Blackfeet, the first people to encounter the dinosaur fossils exposed by the elements. What did Native Americans make of these stone skeletons, and how did they explain the teeth and claws of gargantuan animals no one had seen alive? Did they speculate about their deaths? Did they collect fossils? Beginning in the East, with its Ice Age monsters, and ending in the West, where dinosaurs lived and died, this richly illustrated and elegantly written book examines the discoveries of enormous bones and uses of fossils for medicine, hunting magic, and spells. Well before Columbus, Native Americans observed the mysterious petrified remains of extinct creatures and sought to understand their transformation to stone. In perceptive creation stories, they visualized the remains of extinct mammoths, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine creatures as Monster Bears, Giant Lizards, Thunder Birds, and Water Monsters. Their insights, some so sophisticated that they anticipate modern scientific theories, were passed down in oral histories over many centuries. Drawing on historical sources, archaeology, traditional accounts, and extensive personal interviews, Adrienne Mayor takes us from Aztec and Inca fossil tales to the traditions of the Iroquois, Navajos, Apaches, Cheyennes, and Pawnees. Fossil Legends of the First Americans represents a major step forward in our understanding of how humans made sense of fossils before evolutionary theory developed.
Horns, Tusks, and Flippers
Author: Donald R. Prothero
Publisher: JHU Press
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 334
ISBN-13: 9780801871351
DOWNLOAD EBOOKSince the extinction of the dinosaurs, hoofed mammals have been the planet's dominant herbivores. Native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica, recent paleontological and biological discoveries have deepened understanding of their evolution. This text reveals their evolutionary history.
Assembling the Dinosaur
Author: Lukas Rieppel
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2019-06-24
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 067473758X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA lively account of how dinosaurs became a symbol of American power and prosperity and gripped the popular imagination during the Gilded Age, when their fossil remains were collected and displayed in museums financed by North America’s wealthiest business tycoons. Although dinosaur fossils were first found in England, a series of dramatic discoveries during the late 1800s turned North America into a world center for vertebrate paleontology. At the same time, the United States emerged as the world’s largest industrial economy, and creatures like Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Triceratops became emblems of American capitalism. Large, fierce, and spectacular, American dinosaurs dominated the popular imagination, making front-page headlines and appearing in feature films. Assembling the Dinosaur follows dinosaur fossils from the field to the museum and into the commercial culture of North America’s Gilded Age. Business tycoons like Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan made common cause with vertebrate paleontologists to capitalize on the widespread appeal of dinosaurs, using them to project American exceptionalism back into prehistory. Learning from the show-stopping techniques of P. T. Barnum, museums exhibited dinosaurs to attract, entertain, and educate the public. By assembling the skeletons of dinosaurs into eye-catching displays, wealthy industrialists sought to cement their own reputations as generous benefactors of science, showing that modern capitalism could produce public goods in addition to profits. Behind the scenes, museums adopted corporate management practices to control the movement of dinosaur bones, restricting their circulation to influence their meaning and value in popular culture. Tracing the entwined relationship of dinosaurs, capitalism, and culture during the Gilded Age, Lukas Rieppel reveals the outsized role these giant reptiles played during one of the most consequential periods in American history.
The Beginning of the Age of Dinosaurs
Author: Kevin Padian
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1988-09-30
Total Pages: 406
ISBN-13: 9780521367790
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAround 210 million years ago, life on Earth experienced sweeping changes. Many archaic reptiles and mammalian predecessors became extinct and were replaced by dinosaurs, pterosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, mammals, and essentially all of the major modern vertebrate groups except the birds. This period of change, which took place over a period of approximately five to ten million years, ushered in the beginning of the 'Age of Dinosaurs,' a period that lasted 160 million years to the end of the Cretaceous 65 million years ago. In the past decade, paleontologists have come to know a great deal more about this crucial interval of time. New discoveries, ideas, and insights from scientists in many related- disciplines have created new paradigms about the beginning of the 'Age of Dinosaurs.' What were the animals that preceded the dinosaurs like? How did the dinosaurs originate, and what do we know of their early history? Was their ascent tied to evolutionary innovations, global climatic and ecological changes, or just chance factors? How do paleontologists decide about the evidence preserved in the fossil record, and what areas now require major thought and reevaluation? In this book, 31 specialists in the paleontology of this era consider these and other questions related to Late Triassic and Early Jurassic times - the beginning of the 'Age of Dinosaurs,' its fauna, flora, climate, stratigraphic relationships, and major evolutionary changes. The book is divided into sections on background, Late Triassic taxa and faunas, changes across the boundary, Early Jurassic taxa and faunas, and major macroevolutionary patterns. This comprehensive volume is richly illustrated and is intended for students and professionals in the areas of paleontology, evolutionary biology, geology, and vertebrate zoology. Introductory and summary chapters are provided to acquaint the non-specialist with the issues and the setting of this interval of time in which the ancestral components of the modem fauna, as well as the Dinosauria, first appeared to rule the Earth.
Dinosaurs in Australia
Author: Benjamin P Kear
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Published: 2011-04-19
Total Pages: 201
ISBN-13: 0643102310
DOWNLOAD EBOOKOver the last few decades our understanding of what Australia was like during the Mesozoic Era has changed radically. A rush of new fossil discoveries, together with cutting-edge analytical techniques, has created a much more detailed picture of ancient life and environments from the great southern continent. Giant dinosaurs, bizarre sea monsters and some of the earliest ancestors of Australia’s unique modern animals and plants all occur in rocks of Mesozoic age. Ancient geographical positioning of Australia close to the southern polar circle and mounting geological evidence for near freezing temperatures also make it one of the most unusual and globally significant sources of fossils from the age of dinosaurs. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of current research on Australian Mesozoic faunas and floras, with a balanced coverage of the many technical papers, conference abstracts and unpublished material housed in current collections. It is a primary reference for researchers in the fields of palaeontology, geology and biology, senior undergraduate and postgraduate students, secondary level teachers, as well as fossil collectors and anyone interested in natural history. Dinosaurs in Australia is fully illustrated in colour with original artworks and 12 reconstructions of key animals. It has a foreword by Tim Flannery and is the ideal book for anybody seeking to know more about Australia’s amazing age of dinosaurs.
