According to popular belief, dinosaurs ruled the Earth until they were wiped out by a meteor strike 65 million years ago, whereupon mammals succeeded them. This is correct except that mammals not only succeeded dinosaurs; they existed alongside them back to their beginning. In fact, both share a common ancestor that appeared perhaps 325 million years ago. This small lizard like creature evolved into two major lines, one eventually becoming reptiles and birds, the other, mammals. Mammals survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs: bats took to the air, elephants evolved into a riot of tusked giants, monkeys and rodents rafted across the Atlantic to join them, metatherians migrated across Antarctica to Australia and spawned a spectacular marsupial radiation, grazers diversified as grasses went global, and somewhere at the end, hominins evolved and repeatedly spilled out of Africa. What a wild ride!
Scientists have done much detective work using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology to piece together our current understanding of the origin and evolution of mammals. These scientists' personal stories also will add to our appreciation of our subject.
Although written for the non-scientist, a sharp pencil and a notebook – or an ipad - will come in handy to keep the scientific nomenclature straight.
Our 39-nine-year author, Steve Brusatte, is an excellent paleontologist with a gift for writing. He is a bestselling author and is currently a Reader in Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Edinburgh.
