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Book Review: Ice Age Mammals of North America - Page 2© Beverly Eschberger
Page 2
Feb 14, 2003
Chapter 5 "The Pleistocene Animals," is a lengthy and thorough introduction to the many types of animals that were present in North America during the Pleistocene Epoch. "This book cannot possibly describe all the extinct Pleistocene animals. Instead, it describes the large, the most interesting, and the just plain weird animals." Lange also includes some information about the rhinoceros family, even though no members of that group survived in North America past the Pliocene Epoch (5 to 1.8 million years ago). "...the woolly rhino, a species that inhabited Eurasia during the Ice Age, came very close to crossing Beringia and entering Alaska and is simply too important and unusual to ignore. So this book about North American animals includes a discussion of the woolly rhino." (I'm glad he includes it!) Several sidebars provide more information in this lengthy chapter. In Chapter 6 "Extinctions: Why are the Big Guys Gone?" Lange discusses hypotheses on why so many species of large animals went extinct during the Pleistocene, while many smaller animals have survived to modern times. He discusses the arrival of humans and how hunting and habitat change may have led to the extinction of prey animals and thus to the animals that preyed on them. Lange also includes helpful information about Selected Museums and Fossil Sites in the United States and Canada, a Glossary, and a Bibliography at the end of the book. I also enjoyed the many cute and silly cartoons by illustrator Dorothy Norton, as well as her useful diagrams and maps. I found Ice Age Mammals of North America to be a very helpful book in introducing the young paleontologist to the Pleistocene Epoch and its animals. The book is full of interesting and useful information, I especially enjoyed Chapter 5, the introduction to the many Pleistocene animals. Although this information is far from complete, simply due to space constraints, it is a very thorough introduction, and will be very useful to the budding young paleontologist who wants to learn more about the different animals.
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