Auge Y Reinado de Los Mamíferos / The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

«Auge y reinado de los mam璗eros es nada menos queun thriller que revela la suerte, los giros evolutivos y las cat嫳trofes casi apocal甑ticas que han permitido a los mam璗eros, nosotros incluidos, llegar hasta hoy en d燰 . --The Guardian

Tras su exitoso Auge y ca獮a de los dinosaurios, calificado como «la biograf燰 definitiva de los dinosaurios por Scientific American, el paleont鏊ogo estadounidense Steve Brusatte retoma el pulso de la historia explorando la extraordinaria familia que sobrevivi?al asteroide: los mam璗eros, entre los cuales nos incluimos.

Esta trepidante narraci鏮, que recorre casi sesenta y seis millones de a隳s de enormes cataclismos y glaciaciones, comienza con un invierno nuclear que dur?dos a隳s. Entre sus protagonistas encontramos a tigres dientes de sable, mamuts lanudos, armadillos del tama隳 de un coche, osos de las cavernas que pesan tres veces m嫳 que un oso pardo e incluso algunos tipos de humanos, como los neandertales.

El incre燢le y variado linaje de los mam璗eros no solo se apropi?del mundo, sino que tambi幯 desarroll?los rasgos caracter疄ticos que han sustentado su historia de 憖ito. Pero tambi幯 de fracaso, ya que Brusatte recrea asimismo los mundos perdidos que habitaron nuestros predecesores, desde glaciaciones hasta cat嫳trofes volc嫕icas. En este incre燢le relato, casi una novela de suspense, se entrelaza el trabajo detectivesco que el autor y otros cient璗icos, gracias a los registros f鏀iles y a t嶰nicas de la tecnolog燰 m嫳 vanguardista, han realizado para reconstruir nuestros conocimientos de una historia que llega hasta nosotros.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

By the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, a "brilliant" and "beautifully told" new history of mammals, illuminating the lost story of the extraordinary family tree that led to us [New Scientist, The Times UK]

National Bestseller - Top 10 Nonfiction of the Year: Kirkus - Best Science Book of the Year: The Times UK

We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed, humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today--lions, whales, dogs--represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions. How did we get here?

In his acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs--hailed as "the ultimate dinosaur biography" by Scientific American--American paleontologist Steve Brusatte enchanted readers with his definitive history of the dinosaurs. Now, picking up the narrative in the ashes of the extinction event that doomed T-rex and its kind, Brusatte explores the remarkable story of the family of animals that inherited the Earth--mammals-- and brilliantly reveals that their story is every bit as fascinating and complex as that of the dinosaurs.

Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts how mammals survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs and made the world their own, becoming the astonishingly diverse range of animals that dominate today's Earth. Brusatte also brings alive the lost worlds mammals inhabited through time, from ice ages to volcanic catastrophes. Entwined in this story is the detective work he and other scientists have done to piece together our understanding using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology.

A sterling example of scientific storytelling by one of our finest young researchers, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals illustrates how this incredible history laid the foundation for today's world, for us, and our future.