Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh

by Michael Archer, Henk Godthelp, Suzanne Hand

Book Overview

Sales territory is limited to United States and Canada This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0253339146
• ISBN13: 9780253339140
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.2" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

'Downunder' fossil extravaganza.

Riversleigh is a major World Heritage listed fossil site, primarily discovered in the late 1970s in Queensland, Australia. Since the first discoveries an abundance of prehistoric Australian fauna dating from 25 million years ago to the present has been recovered, preserved in limestone sediments and ancient caves, which testify to a formerly lush rainforest climate prevalent as Australia drifted north from Antarctica. It is unfortunate that most of Australia's present day, rather unique animals are in fact, just a remnant of what once was, when formerly higher rainfall spanned much of the continent. Many lineages and individual species, represented by the abundance recovered at Riversleigh, are now extinct and forgotten, except of course by a few enthusiastic palaeontologists, as described in this book. Readers will be surprised and delighted at the peculiar forms and fantastic colour illustrations and reconstructions presented in this book, and what things can be learnt of their extinction over time, as Australia drifted north.Exquisitely illustrated, with on-site field notes and diagrams should keep the enthusiastic amateur fossil hunter entertained. An abundance of technical notes, photographs of real specimens and colour reconstructions, many of which uphold Australia's reputation for the unusual and/or the alternative, in terms of evolutionary development. Evolutionary experiments abound with examples which include 'thingadonta' (nobody really knows what it is), several species of marsupial lion, Tasmanian 'wolf' (thylacine) ancestors, flesh-eating kangaroos, several failed lines of kangaroos, several platypus ancestors, giant marsupials such as Diprotodon-the world's largest, a giant wombat, koala ancestors, numerous bats, possums, and creepy critters of all types, are presented. No primates unfortunately, and no bears or dogs, but it is interesting how some of these vacant evolutionary niches were filled by marsupial alternatives-especially in the case of the 'Tasmanian wolf', and the carnivorous marsupial 'lion'. And it is interesting to speculate what kind of alternative type of 'marsupial primate' may have (could still!) have arisen. An upright 'hominid'-like marsupial, wandering the Australian plains-who knows if Australian rainforests hadn't have all but disappeared.The book puts the various animals and lineages into perspective, describing the changes of climate and habitat loss over the last 25 million years as Australia's climate became drier as the continent drifted north. Many lineages were/are in slow decline before the arrival of the aborigines and Europeans, as Australia's rainforests progressively shrank. The colour illustrations and landscape reconstructions are a major feature, and they are outstanding. This book is highly recommended for the enthusiastic fossil hunter, or for those just curious in Australian animals and palaeontology in general.