Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior and the Fossil Record

ISBN-13: 9780521456913 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 428 str.

Gary Haynes

Opis

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. The purpose of this book is to use the ecology and behavior of modern elephants to create models for reconstructing the life and death of extinct mammoths and mastodonts. The source of the models is a long-term and continuing study of elephants in Zimbabwe, Africa. These models are clearly described with respect to the anatomical, behavioral, and ecological similarities between past and present proboscideans. The implications of these similarities on the life and death of mammoths and mastodonts is explored in detail. The importance of this book is primarily its unifying perspective on living and extinct proboscideans: the fossil record is closely examined and compared to the natural history of surviving elephants. Dr. Haynes's studies of the places where African elephants die (so-called elephant burial grounds) are unique.

Recenzje

'The scholarly title obscures the real topic. In fact, this volume is a brilliant murder mystery.' Scientific American

Spis treści

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.