A readable book on the evolution of the first ocean animals?
June 21, 2024 7:10 AM Subscribe
ISO an accessible book for a non-scientist on the movement of land animals into the oceans.
I recently finished The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte, and several times he references how whales started as land animals and then made their way to the oceans once they became hospitable to life. I'm fascinated by this and want to read more. Please point me in the direction of what to read. I enjoyed Brusatte's book because it was technical enough to scratch my science nerd itch but not so technical that it can only be read and understood by paleontologists. I'd like something equally as accessible but on the general big topic of whales moving into the oceans. I looked through the book's reference list and none of the title jumped out as "Oh, that's the book I need to read next."
I recently finished The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte, and several times he references how whales started as land animals and then made their way to the oceans once they became hospitable to life. I'm fascinated by this and want to read more. Please point me in the direction of what to read. I enjoyed Brusatte's book because it was technical enough to scratch my science nerd itch but not so technical that it can only be read and understood by paleontologists. I'd like something equally as accessible but on the general big topic of whales moving into the oceans. I looked through the book's reference list and none of the title jumped out as "Oh, that's the book I need to read next."
The Walking Whales [gbooks]
you might also appreciate an ambulocetus [amnh]
posted by HearHere at 8:06 AM on June 21
you might also appreciate an ambulocetus [amnh]
posted by HearHere at 8:06 AM on June 21
I looked through the book's reference list and none of the title jumped out as "Oh, that's the book I need to read next."So what you're saying is ... cetacean needed.1
posted by caek at 8:23 AM on June 21 [18 favorites]
Life started (so far as we know) in the ocean and moved to land. Also, whales were extremely late to the party—there were a lot of cool reptiles making a living at sea long before mammals were enbiggified.
So, I’ll suggest the possibility of The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles as description of a bunch of much earlier land-to-ocean megafauna. It doesn’t directly address your ask, but I think it may give you a bunch of other animals to investigate and it seems close enough to be interesting. Hopefully still of interest…
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:31 AM on June 21 [3 favorites]
So, I’ll suggest the possibility of The Princeton Field Guide to Mesozoic Sea Reptiles as description of a bunch of much earlier land-to-ocean megafauna. It doesn’t directly address your ask, but I think it may give you a bunch of other animals to investigate and it seems close enough to be interesting. Hopefully still of interest…
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 8:31 AM on June 21 [3 favorites]
Not only whales, among the mammals, have gone fully aquatic (i.e. don't like seals, beavers, otters, haul out on land for sex and . . . delivery). Manatees + Dungong of the order Sirenia are a separate evolutionary crossing of the beaches back to sea. Whales (toothed and baleen) seem to be descended from one adventurous hippo family and then diversified into nearly 100 different species from 2m to 30m in length.
Book? you might enjoy Elaine Morgan's The Aquatic Ape (1982) which looks at a number of peculiar-to-humans traits and concludes that we are all descendants of primates who spent a lot of time cavorting in the ocean eating oysters and avoiding leopards. Establishment science
.
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:34 AM on June 21
Book? you might enjoy Elaine Morgan's The Aquatic Ape (1982) which looks at a number of peculiar-to-humans traits and concludes that we are all descendants of primates who spent a lot of time cavorting in the ocean eating oysters and avoiding leopards. Establishment science
.
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:34 AM on June 21
re: you might enjoy Elaine Morgan's The Aquatic Ape (1982)
while the book may be enjoyable, Scientific American notes the field has advanced a bit in the past 40 years: "Since Hardy and Morgan’s hypothesis was advanced, many of the gaps in the human fossil record have been filled, with at least 13 new species found since 1987."
posted by HearHere at 12:32 PM on June 21 [1 favorite]
while the book may be enjoyable, Scientific American notes the field has advanced a bit in the past 40 years: "Since Hardy and Morgan’s hypothesis was advanced, many of the gaps in the human fossil record have been filled, with at least 13 new species found since 1987."
posted by HearHere at 12:32 PM on June 21 [1 favorite]
In case you're not aware, Brusatte has also written a book about mammals. There's not a ton on marine mammals but he does cover it (I think in the chapter "Extreme Mammals"). There's also a good chapter in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals (3rd edition) with updated coverage of cetacean evolution. The former goes broadly into how mammals may have evolved to re-enter the sea; the latter is more detailed and academic, but could be interesting if you can find a copy through the library.
We have learned a ton about marine mammal evolution over the past decade thanks to new genetic/genomic tools, so any older texts will be wildly out of date, speculative, and often wrong, and I don't know of any recent popular science texts specifically about this topic.
posted by one_bean at 5:52 PM on June 21 [3 favorites]
We have learned a ton about marine mammal evolution over the past decade thanks to new genetic/genomic tools, so any older texts will be wildly out of date, speculative, and often wrong, and I don't know of any recent popular science texts specifically about this topic.
posted by one_bean at 5:52 PM on June 21 [3 favorites]
Julia Rothman has an "anatomy" series with amazing illustrations and interesting text describing what's being illustrated. She has an Ocean Anatomy book.
Several reviews mention that the book includes information about evolution. I'm not sure if it addresses it as much as what you're looking for (my guess is not), but I thought it was worth mentioning just because these books in general are so good and the illustrations are a different way to learn that honestly I'm not sure why we generally give up as adults.
posted by Eyelash at 7:11 PM on June 21
Several reviews mention that the book includes information about evolution. I'm not sure if it addresses it as much as what you're looking for (my guess is not), but I thought it was worth mentioning just because these books in general are so good and the illustrations are a different way to learn that honestly I'm not sure why we generally give up as adults.
posted by Eyelash at 7:11 PM on June 21
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posted by seemoorglass at 7:39 AM on June 21 [1 favorite]