As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
An illustration of a unicorn from 16th century Italy. In the Middle Ages, individuals believed tusks pulled from the ground came from the legendary animal. (Image credit: Historical image collection by Bildagentur by means of Alamy)
>
Mammals initially appeared in the world over 200 million years earlier, scuttling around together with the dinosaurs as little mouse-sized animals. After the asteroid struck 66 million years agoit was their time to shine– and the Age of Mammals started.
The course to comprehending our own branch of the animal kingdom hasn’t been uncomplicated. In this excerpt from “The Story of the Mammals in 25 Discoveries” (Columbia University Press, 2026), author Donald R. Prothero takes a look at a time when thinkers and early biologists thought giants wandered the Earth and checks out the concept that termination was heresy.
Donald R. Prothero is a paleontology and geology scientist, instructor and author. He is an accessory teacher of geological sciences at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and a research study partner in vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. His Columbia University Press books consist of “The Story of Earth’s Climate in 25 Discoveries: How Scientists Found the Connections Between Climate and Life” (2024) and “The Story of Evolution in 25 Discoveries: The Evidence and the People Who Found It” (2020 ).
Learn more
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
