Combining presentations of both long-extinct as presently living species, Prof. Annalisa Berta’s new book “Sea Mammals; The Past and Present Lives of Our Oceans’ Cornerstone Species” provides her readers with a rich understanding of how, where, and at times even why these obligate air breathing creatures have come to spend their entire – or at least a significant part of their – lives in the planets seas.
When it comes to present day megafauna, there are few that can rival bears in being charismatic. From representations of spiritual power, to symbols of a wide range of qualities from strength to love, to popular culture icons, bears loom large in the human imagination. Wayne Lynch’s new book “Bears of the North; A Year Inside Their Worlds” offers readers an enjoyable opportunity to get to know them in al their reality.
From platypuses and possums, through wombats, echidnas, devils, and kangaroos, to quolls, dibblers, dunnarts, and kowaris, Jack Ashby knows them all; and in his recently published “Platypus Matters; The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals,” he guides his readers on a tour of their lives, their evolutionary stories, and the challenges they face in the modern world.
Every Palaeocast podcast to which I’ve listened – and I have every reason to believe I now listened to them all – has been very much worth the time spent doing so and far more beside in the understanding of the subjects they have presented. However, while they are all well done, some still stand out above the rest. Most recently, one of these stand-outs was Episode 126: Beasts Before Us.