Mammoths by Errol Fuller

List Price: $8.95
Sale Price: $7.61
Savings of 15 %

DESCRIPTION

The mammoth, with its shaggy coat, enormous tusks, and ponderous presence, is one of the great icons of extinction. It is also one of the few prehistoric creatures that is known not only from a few scattered fossilized bones, but from specimens that have been preserved perfectly, with skin, flesh and hair.

Complete mammoths lie frozen in the icy wastes of Siberia, and from time to time one is exposed as the temperature or conditions change. So while there is doubt about when most prehistoric animals first appeared on earth, we know precisely when and where the mammoth lived.

Not only are there excellent specimens, we also have pictures of mammoths painted by people who actually saw them alive – our ancestors who, thousands of years ago, decorated the walls of caves with the animal’s image. Today, this artistic tradition continues and many modern painters have chosen to create pictures showing the mammoth as it appeared in life. Its lumbering form is often shown crossing great ice fields or snowbound plateaus.

This book tells the story of the mammoth, how it lived and died and how its memory lives on in the present day.

REVIEW

via Amazon.com (c) 2005 – “This little book is a surprisingly complete introduction to Mammoths. It talks about the fossil finds, the things we have learned about them, where they lived, basically everything there is to know about mammoths. Although this book is probably aimed at a younger audience, it is surprisingly complete. Numerous pictures, particularily of the finds in Siberia, are included along with brief but informative text. Mammoths have gained a respect and recognition that very few extinct animals have, especially of mammals. Even their name has entered our vocabulary as a word for big. This is neither a complex nor difficult book, but is a good introduction.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover: 48 pages
ISBN-10: 1593730187
ISBN-13: 978-1593730185
Language: English
Dimensions: 6.3 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
Weight: 6.4 ounces

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Errol Fuller is a world-renowned authority on extinct birds and the author of many books concerned with extinction and conservation, including The Lost Birds of Paradise.

No shows booked at the moment.

The Great Auk by Errol Fuller

List Price: $8.95
Sale Price: $7.61
Savings of 15 %

DESCRIPTION

The Great Auk, a seabird whose extinction was entirely the work of humankind, ceased to exist on the morning of the third day of June, 1844, when the last two recorded great auks were killed by three fishermen on the island of Eldey, a few miles south of Iceland in the North Atlantic Ocean.

For thousands of years they had swum the Atlantic in their millions and flocked to their breeding grounds.

An icon of extinction, the great auk has been commemorated in almost every artistic and visual form, from cigarette boxes to bronze and marble statues, and immortalized as one of the most tragic man-made extinctions.

REVIEWS

via Amazon.com (c) 2000- “Fuller’s book cannot possibly be surpassed on its subject, the extinction and remaining artifacts of the The Great Auk. A truly amazing book which details every stuffed auk from around the world, as well as all the egg specimens. Mostly with photographs, the history of how each specimen finally came to its current residence of display is a story in itself. Great detail is given to the obsessive collectors and dealers through the last 150 years also. Forget the price, just buy this book! Fuller’s own Auk is photographed extensively in colour. Only question remaining on the subject is, What did Eric Fuller pay for his Great Auk?”

via Amazon.com (c) 2001 – “Ask anyone you know with even a cursory knowledge of birds and animals to name you an extinct species. After the Dodo, the Great Auk will probably be the most frequently mentioned name. The reason the story of the Auk’s extinction has remained in our brains, in the recesses yes, but remembered nevertheless, is because of the sheer size and horrific destruction associated with the hunting to extinction of the bird. The book deals not just with the hunting of these large flightless birds (think Penguin) for food but also looks at what their feathers, fat and oils were used for. Other subjects include the history of the trade, a full description of the birds appearance and it’s behaviour. Although the last bird died in 1844 the story does not end with their demise. Fuller talks about the stuffed specimens and the eggs and how the greed associated with the Auk’s extinction continued in the behavoir of collectors and museums. Plenty of color illustrations. Gift for a bird lover.”

via Amazon.com (c) 1999 – “THIS IS A MOST EXCELLENT AND SUMPTUOUS BOOK. THE AUTHOR COMBINES IN HIS STYLE VICTORIAN IDEAS ABOUT COLLECTING WITH MODERN CONCERNS ABOUT CONSERVATION. A BEAUTIFUL AND TECHNICAL BOOK.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover:  448 pages
ISBN-10: 0810963914
ISBN-13: 978-0810963917
Language: English
Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.6 x 1.4 inches
Weight: 5.5 pounds

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Errol Fuller is a world-renowned authority on extinct birds and the author of many books concerned with extinction and conservation, including The Lost Birds of Paradise.

No shows booked at the moment.

The Dodo by Errol Fuller

List Price: $8.95
Sale Price: $7.61
Savings of 15 %

DESCRIPTION

The story of the dodo is a classic of evolution and extinction equal in fascination to that of the dinosaur or the saber-toothed tiger. Unlike these, however, the dodo was the first recorded example of an extinction that was, in all probability, entirely caused by humans.

Humankind coexisted with the dodo between 1598 and 1681 and then the dodo was gone, hunted to extinction, unable to escape the new predators that arrived in ships on the isolated island later known as Mauritius. The giant pigeon, for this was what the dodo was, evolved from ancestors that had populated the island millions of years before in the Pleistocene period, when Mauritius was far adrift of where it lies today.

The pigeons colonized an island paradise abundant with food, free of any terrestrial mammalian predators. Over millions of years they lost their instinct for danger.

They also lost the ability to fly, and grew bulky with sturdy running legs. For the 17th-century sailors who arrived and settled on the island, they were easy to kill and as tasty as the turtles the sailors also caught and ate. The sailors introduced domestic animals and rat as well, competitors for the dodos’ habitat.

So much about the dodo is unknown and will never be known, and yet, the dodo engenders much speculation. The Dodo: Extinction in Paradise explores the science and the mythology, the history, archaeology, and legend, as well as the dodo’s place in art and literature.

REVIEWS

via Amazon.com (c) – ” “As dead as a dodo.’ Everyone knows the phrase (and it is far clearer than the obscure doornail variant). The dodo is universally acknowledged as a symbol of extinction, not just a dead bird, not just a dead species, but an emblem of wipe out. Although everyone knows the dodo, we know almost nothing about it. It was discovered and wiped out long before the days of scientific observation. Errol Fuller has told us just about everything there is to know about the bird in _Dodo: A Brief History_ (HarperCollins). It is not as big or lush a volume as the one he produced on another goner, the great auk, but it is beautiful and fascinating. We will never forget the dodo. Fuller’s handsome, beautifully illustrated volume of all this dodo lore helps in the cause of dodo remembrance. It is throughout good-humored, and in accord with its subject, it is peculiar, funny, and sad.”

PRODUCT DETAILS

Hardcover: 184 pages
ISBN-10: 0789308401
ISBN-13: 978-0789308405
Language: English
Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.1 x 1 inches
Weight: 1.7 pounds

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Errol Fuller is a world-renowned authority on extinct birds and the author of many books concerned with extinction and conservation, including The Lost Birds of Paradise.

No shows booked at the moment.