When it comes to fossils, dinosaurs and the great reptiles of the Mesozoic get most of the popular press. Our own relatives, the mammals of days long ago, aren't nearly as well known. Which is a pity, because in some ways the story of mammals over the ages is nearly as interesting as that of the dinosaurs. I have a variety of books about fossil mammals. A few focus on individual groups, like the horses, but most are just about mammals in general.
| Fossil Horses | Other mammal groups | Fossil mammals in general |
The Equidae, or horses, are among the most interesting and the best-documented groups of fossil mammals. These books focus on fossil horses:
FOSSIL
HORSES
MacFadden, Bruce
c.1992, Cambridge Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-521-47708-5
A very detailed look at fossil horses, including evolution, distribution, paleobiology, etc. This has more or less replaced Simpson's classic HORSES as the definitive work on the subject.
HORSES
Simpson, G.G.
c.1951, Doubleday
ISBN:
This is the classic work on horse evolution. Simpson was an expert on fossil equines, and
this was his masterwork on the subject. Unfortunately, the last I knew it was
long out of print and now quite rare.
There are plenty of other mammal groups, some known only from fossils, others that have both living and fossil members. These books are about some of those other groups of fossil mammals:
THE
BIG CATS AND THEIR FOSSIL RELATIVES
Turner, Alan
c.1997, Columbia Univ. Press
ISBN: 0-231-10228-3
A look at the paleontology of the family Felidae (cats), including a number of very good illustrations and a summary of all the fossil data known. The cat family has a long and rich fossil record, from the small and primitive Proailurus to the better-known Recent cats such as the sabertooths, and the modern big cats as well. This book also discusses more obscure cat-like fossils like the nimravids, which some palaeontologists believe are closely related to the true cats, while others place them in a separate family. The illustrations are by Mauricio Anton, a very fine artist with a special gift for taking fossil skulls and showing what they might have looked like when alive. It's striking how much less bizarre a sabertooth cat looks when most of the length of the long fangs is covered by flesh and skin.
HISTORY OF THE PRIMATES
W. E. Le Gros Clark
c.1949, British Museum of Natural
ISBN:
MAMMOTHS, MASTODONS, AND ELEPHANTS: BIOLOGY, BEHAVIOR AND
THE FOSSIL RECORD
Haynes, Gary
c.1991, Cambridge Univ Press
ISBN: 0-521-45691-6
A study of the Proboscidea (elephants and their relatives) over geologic time.
General Books about Mammal Evolution
Many groups of fossil mammals are well-known enough to provide good fodder for discussing the evolutionary processes they've gone through. These books deal with mammal fossils and evolution in general:
THE AGE OF MAMMALS
Kurten, Bjorn
c.1971, Cambridge Univ press
ISBN: 0-231-03647-7
IN THE SHADOW OF THE DINOSAURS: EARLY MESOZOIC TETRAPODS
Fraser & Sues
c.1994, Cambridge University
ISBN: 0-521-45899-4
A collection of around thirty articles on mammals, lizards, and other non-dinosaur land animals from the Triassic and Early Jurassic periods. An extremely interesting book, packed full of information you won't likely find anywhere else. However, before you buy it, be forewarned that these are journal-quality pieces, written with the assumption that the reader is intimately familiar with the terminology and concepts used by professional paleontologists in their discussions on prehistoric life.
MESOZOIC MAMMALS
Various
c.1979, University of California
ISBN: 0-520-03582-8
A collection of articles on mammals of the Mesozoic Era, when the furballs lived side by side (or side by foot) with the mighty dinosaurs. Most people don't know the story of the Mesozoic mammals, but it's worth studying because so much of what mammals are today grows out of what they were then.
THE RISE OF THE MAMMALS
Benton, Michael
c.1991, Crescent Books
ISBN: 0-517-02561-2
A nontechnical survey of mammalian origins and evolution. The text is rather limited and short on detail, but the illustrations are magnificent.
THE WHITE RIVER BADLANDS
O'Harra, Cleophas C.
c.1920, SD School of Mines
ISBN:
A survey of the geology and paleontology of the fossil-rich White River Badlands region of South Dakota.
