Description
Book SynopsisPortrays the life and evolutionary times of marine mammals - from giant whales and sea cows that originated 55 million years ago to the deep diving elephant seals and clam-eating walruses of modern times. This title gives an account of the origin of various marine mammal lineages, some extinct, others extant but threatened.
Trade Review"Engaging... Stimulating... A compelling story of the history and biology of marine mammals that will delight while it informs readers." -- Alexander J. Werth Bioscience "A good introduction to marine mammal evolution." -- Ian Paulsen The Guardian "Rarely does one have the opportunity to read a book that is written in an enjoyable and accessible way, scientifically accurate, and based in a wide and updated range of literature." -- Carolina Loch, University of Otago, New Zealand Marine Mammal Science "The writing is simple and informative, the line drawings and other illustrations are excellent, and we have here a primer of what it is to be a marine animal..." -- Bernd Wursig The Quarterly Review of Biology
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
1. Marine Mammals
Major Groups of Marine Mammals
Discovering, Naming, and Classifying Marine Mammals
Reconstructing the Hierarchy of Marine Mammals
Adaptations and Exaptations
What Is a Species and How Do New Species Form?
Where Do They Live and Why Are They Where They Are?
2. Past Diversity in Time and Space,Paleoclimates, and Paleoecology
Fossils and Taphonomy
The Discovery of the First Fossil Marine Mammal (a Whale)
The Importance of Fossils
How Do We Know the Age of a Fossil?
How Do We Know Where Marine Mammals Were?
Marine Mammal Diversity and Communities Through Time
What Led Marine Mammals Back to the Sea?
3. Pinniped Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations
The Earliest Pinnipeds: Webbed Feet or Flippers?
Crown Pinnipeds
Desmatophocids: Extinct Phocid Relatives
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History
4. Cetartiodactylan Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations
Early Whales Had Legs!
Crown Cetacea (Neoceti)
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction, and Life History
5. Diversity, Evolution, and Adaptations of Sirenians
and Other Marine Mammals
Walking Sea Cows!
Crown Sirenia
Evolutionary Trends
Structural and Functional Innovations and Adaptations
Mating and Social Systems, Reproduction and Life History
Desmostylians
Aquatic Sloths
Marine Otters
Polar Bears
6. Ecology and Conservation
What Marine Mammals Eat and What Eats Them
Interactions Between Human and Marine Mammals:
Lessons Learned
Extinction: The Rule, Not the Exception
Glossary
Further Reading and Online Sources
Illustration Credits
Index
