Since the extinction of the dinosaurs, hoofed mammals have been the planet's dominant herbivores. Native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica, they include not only even-toed artiodactyls (pigs, hippos, camels, deer, antelopes, giraffes, sheep, goats, and cattle) and odd-toed perissodactyls (horses and rhinos), but also tethytheres (elephants and their aquatic relatives, manatees and seas cows) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins), which descended from hoofed land mammals. Recent paleontological and biological discoveries have deepened our understanding of their evolution and in some cases have made previous theories obsolete. In Horns, Tusks, and Flippers, Donald R. Prothero and Robert M. Schoch present a compelling new evolutionary history of these remarkable creatures, combining the latest scientific evidence with the most current information about their ecology and behavior. Using an approach based on cladistics, the authors consider both living and extinct ungulates. Included in their discussion are the stories of rhinos, whose ancestors include both dinosaur-sized hornless species and hippo-like river waders; elephants, whose earliest ancestors had neither tusks nor trunks; and whales, whose descent from hoofed mesonychids has never properly been described for the lay audience. Prothero and Schoch also update the evolutionary history of the horse, correcting the frequent errors made in textbooks and popular works, and they make available to the general public new evidence about the evolution of camels, horned antelopes, and cattle. In addition, they raise important conservation issues and relate anecdotes of significant fossil finds. Scientifically accurate and up to date, generously illustrated, and clearly written, Horns, Tusks, and Flippers is a useful and much-needed resource for specialists in the fields of paleontology, zoology, ecology, and evolutionary biology, as well as for general readers interested in learning more about the story of life on earth.
Contents:Preface and Acknowledgments1. Introduction American savanna Names and dates Hoofed mammals Uinta beasts and the Cope-Marsh wars The lost world2. Cloven hooves The kingdom of cloven hooves Gut reactions ""Bunny deer"" Phosphate and fossils Pseudopigs Sui generis ""Nebraska man"" and javelinas The ""river horse""3. Tylopods Camels without humps Ships of the desert ""Mountain tooth""4. Where the deer and the antelope play Graveyard of the Amazons Horns and antlers ""Mouse deer"" The ""forest donkey"" The camelopard Deer perfume All-Americanbut not an antelope Deer to us all Abbé David and his deer5. Hollow horns A world of bovids Bovines Auroachs and wisent Where the buffalo roam Cattle call Diving bucks ""Bright eyes"" Mountain monarchs6. A whale's tale Dr. Koch's ""sea serpent"" Walking whales? Andrew's giant ""bear"" The pedigree of Leviathan Life of Leviathan ""So long, and thanks for all the fish"" Moby Dick, Flipper, and their kin Filter-feeding monsters Save the whales!7. Out of Africa The tethytheres Mermaids The ""feeble folk""8. The origin on Jumbo Giants in the earth Early tuskers The ""Great Missourium"" Shovel-tuskers and gomphotheres Elephant grinders Wooly wanderers The mystery of the missing mammoths9. Kingdom of ivory Behold the behemoth Behemoth biology The sisterhood God and slave Blood and ivory10. A horse of a different color (and shape) The origin of perissodactyls The ""hyrax beast"" Cuvier's ""ancient beast"" Halfway horses Browsing anchitheres Grazing horses The hipparion controversy11. Equus One-toed horses Stripes do not a zebra make Wild asses Wild and domesticated horses12. Thunder beasts The legend of the Thunder Beasts Bone rush Osborn, Asia, and orthogenesis The biology of brontotheres13. Proboscises and claws Dragon's teeth Hall of the mountain cow Chalicotheres don't obey Cuvier's Law Just what are chalicotheres? Moropomorphs14. Rhinoceroses without horns ""Ancient Dacians"" and Siberian mummies American rhinos The amphibious amynodonts Running rhinos and rhino giants True rhinoceroses Miocene invasions Rhinoceros Pompeii Hairy rhinos and giant ""unicorns""15. Thundering to extinction Unicorn, monoceros, and rhinoceros Black and white One-horned rhinos Horns of doom Epilogue References Index
""I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the morphological perspective on the evolution of hoofed mammals and particularly to those wanting to learn more about the fossil record of individual clades. It is enjoyable and informative.""
