Description: More than 10,000 years ago spectacularly large mammals roamed the pampas and jungles of South America. This book tells the story of these great beasts during and just after the Pleistocene, the geological epoch marked by the great ice ages. Megafauna describes the history and way of life of these animals, their comings and goings, and what befell them at the beginning of the modern era and the arrival of humans. It places these giants within the context of the other mammals then alive, describing their paleobiology--how they walked; how much they weighed; their diets, behavior, biomechanics; and the interactions among them and with their environment. It also tells the stories of the scientists who contributed to our discovery and knowledge of these transcendent creatures and the environment they inhabited. The episode known as the Great American Biotic Interchange, perhaps the most important of all natural history "experiments," is also an important theme of the book, tracing the biotic events of both North and South America, that led to the fauna and the ecosystems discussed in this book.
Brief description: Sergio F. Vizcaino is professor of vertebrate zoology at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata and researcher of the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas working at the Museo de La Plata, Argentina. His research focuses on the paleobiology of South American fossil vertebrates, mostly mammals. He has participated in numerous field work seasons in Argentina, and Antarctica. He was the president of the Asociacion Paleontologica Argentina.