Awards

• Winner of Selection of the Discovery Book Club.

Overview

Toward the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, during a time known as the Late Cretaceous, a new type of giant predator appeared along the southern coasts of North America. It was a huge species of crocodylian and is called Deinosuchus. Neither a crocodile nor an alligator, it was an ancestor of both modern groups, but it reached weights of many tons and it had some features unique to the species. Average-sized individuals were bigger than the carnivorous dinosaurs with which they cohabited; the largest specimens were the size of a T-rex. This book is the biography of these giant beasts, including the long history of their discovery, new research about their makeup, and the first published evidence about their prey. Generations of people have stared at the 6-foot reconstructed skull at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, not realising that the only real bones in the specimen were bits of snout and lower jaw. New fossils and research show that the actual animal was quite different from the reconstruction, and now we can reliably assemble the skull and the remainder of the animal. The book also deals with the ancient life and geology of the coastal areas where Deinosuchus thrived, including its competitors and its prey, which likely included carnivorous dinosaurs among its numbers. Since Deinosuchus is found on eastern and western sides of the Great Inland Sea that split North America, it must have crossed this vast seaway during the Late Cretaceous. How and why the crocodylian crossed the seaway is the focus of a key chapter in the book. There is also detailed discussion of the methods used to determine the size of these giant animals, how we can date the fossils and describe their living environments, and why we can be sure who at whom 80 million years ago.

Full Product Details

9780253340870

Table of Contents

Reviews

Both thorough and accessible - no easy task - the book opens a wonderful window onto a vanished world. A winner. - New Scientist, 22 March 2003

Schwimmer offers a study of the paleoautecology of a Cretaceous crocodylian, Deinosuchus. Thoughtfully organized, the book's chapter headings reflect answers to some basic questions: How big was it? How old was it? Where was it found? What did it eat? How many species existed? Astute readers will gain insight into the thinking of a practicing vertebrate paleontologist as the author probes these questions. But the target audience for this trade book is not obvious-technical jargon is sometimes explained in the text (and thoroughly covered in the appendixes), but its usage in the text requires an advanced level of understanding. The author complains about the requirements of the zoological rules of nomenclature, which seems counterproductive in such a work. The book will be most useful for paleoecologists hoping to gain a deeper understanding of life in the Cretaceous. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals.P. K. Strother, Boston College, Choice, December 2002 Schwimmer offers a study of the paleoautecology of a Cretaceous crocodylian, Deinosuchus. Thoughtfully organized, the book's chapter headings reflect answers to some basic questions: How big was it? How old was it? Where was it found? What did it eat? How many species existed? Astute readers will gain insight into the thinking of a practicing vertebrate paleontologist as the author probes these questions... -Choice, December 2002

""Both thorough and accessible - no easy task - the book opens a wonderful window onto a vanished world. A winner."" - New Scientist, 22 March 2003

Author Information

David R. Schwimmer, Professor of Paleontology at Columbus State University in Georgia, is an expert on the Late Cretaceous paleontology of the southeastern United States. Author of many papers on Cretaceous vertebrates, he is co-author (with W. J. Frazier) of Regional Stratigraphy of North America, which won the award for ""Best Reference Book of the Year"" from the Geoscience Information Society.

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