Click to have a closer look
About this book
Contents
Customer reviews
Related titles
About this book
The diminishing population of African and Asian elephants can be compared to the extinction of other elephant-like species, such as mammoths and mastodonts, which occurred more than ten thousand years ago. This book uses the ecology and behaviour of modern elephants in Zimbabwe to create models or reconstructions of the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodonts. The author's studies of the places where African elephants die, and the fossil and bone records are also examined very closely.
Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; Part I. Proboscidean Flesh and Bones: 1. Taxonomy: classification of fossil and living forms; 2. Physical appearance: mammoths, mastodonts, and modern elephants; 3. A referential model for understanding mammoths and mastodonts: social structure and habit use by modern elephants; Part II. Actualistic Studies of Proboscidean Mortality: 4. Actualistic studies of mass deaths; 5. Actualistic studies of mass kills; Part III. The Fossil Record: 6. Finding meaning in proboscidean sites: the world fossil record; 7. Extinction in North America at the end of the Pleistocene; Appendix; References; Index.
Customer Reviews
By: G Haynes
413 pages, 56 b/w photos, 53 tables, 51 illus
'The book is well written, with illusions and tables provided to support important conclusions.' Science 'Of greatest value for paleontologists and archaeologists, but advanced undergraduates interested in the techniques of historical sciences could read it profitably.' Choice ' ... an enthralling book which anyone interested in elephants or mammoths will enjoy.' Times Higher Education Supplement 'The scholarly title obscures the real topic. In fact, this volume is a brilliant murder mystery.' Scientific American