Grade 10 Up—The great auk, the dodo, the passenger pigeon—these recently extinct animals get most of the press, but, as Ross points out, they are just the tip of the iceberg. Noting claims that possibly a million or more species have vanished in the last century alone, he highlights 65 creatures that are presumed extinct. Grouping his two- to four-page entries into chronological chapters, the author goes backward in time, beginning with the golden toad, the Eskimo curlew, and five others that were last seen less than 100 years ago, and ending more than 50,000 years ago with the likes of the megatooth shark and the giant ape. Homo erectus and its near relatives are included, too. Each entry opens with a taxonomic classification and brief overview; goes on to describe physical features, range, ecological niche, and likely fate; includes a small, drab photo or drawing; and closes with a bulleted list of extra facts and leads to further reading. Though the book has a dense, utilitarian look that will keep casual browsers away, the prose is clear and even lively at times ("Fortunately for the pronghorn antelope, the American cheetah died out around 10,000 years ago"). The level of detail makes this a more rewarding resource for serious students of extinction's causes—which are many and often hard to pin down—than Don Lessem's Dinosaurs to Dodos: An Encyclopedia of Extinct Animals (Scholastic, 1999).—John
For More Details-
(CLICK here)
No comments:
Post a Comment