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Dinosaurs of the Air:

The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds

ISBN-13: 9780801867637
Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Imprint: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
By Gregory S. Paul
Price: AUD $148.00
Stock: 0 in stock
Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
Local release date: 14/07/2002
Format: Hardback 472 pages Weight: 0g
Categories: Nature & existence of God [HRAB1]

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Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds presents the most recent work of renowned evolutionary scientist and dinosaur illustrator Gregory Paul. Dinosaurs of the Air synthesizes the growing body of evidence which suggests that modern-day birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs of prehistoric times. Paul argues provocatively for the idea that the ancestor-descendant relationship between the dinosaurs and birds can on occasion be reversed, and that many dinosaurs were secondarily flightless descendants of creatures we would regard as birds. Controversial and comprehensive, Dinosaurs of the Air also offers new, firsthand interpretations of major fossils; a balanced, rewarding discussion of the ways we think flight may have evolved (comparing ''ground up'' and ''trees down'' scenarios); a close look at the famous urvogel Archaeopteryx, discussing what it can and cannot tell us about bird origins; and in-depth analyses of bird and theropod phylogenetics. Full of rich detail for the specialist but accessible to the intelligent lay reader, the book includes the author's own stunning illustrations and a technical appendix which provides information, for example, on body mass/wing dimension relationships and avian/dinosaurian metabolics.

Contents:

Preface

PART I : Getting Started

Chapter 1: A History

Chapter 2: The Science of Bird Origins

PART II: Skeletons, Bones and Other Remains of the Mesozoic

Chapter 3: Skulls

Chapter 4: Skeletons

Chapter 5: Feathers and Other Fluff

PART III: Flight: How and Why it Evolves, Why it is Lost, and How to Tell When

Chapter 6: The Beginnings of Flight: From the Ground Up, or the Trees Down?

Chapter 7: The Early Evolution of Flight

Chapter 8: The Loss of Flight

PART IV: The Archaeopteryx problem

Chapter 9: Lifestyle for the Urvogel

PART V: Who Is Related to Whom, and Why?

Chapter 10: Looking for the True Bird Ancestor

Chapter 11: Were Some Dinosaurs Neoflightless Birds?

Chapter 12: A Look at the Phylogenetics of Predatory Dinosaurs

PART VI: A Modest Scenario

Chapter 13: The Mesozoic

Chapter 14: The Great Extinction

Chapter 15: The Cenozoic

Appendix

Bibliography

Index

""If you want to dig seriously into one of today's most fascinating evolutionary debates, and aren't afraid of anatomy, you'll delight in Dinosaurs of the Air.""

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Dinosaurs of the Air:

The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds