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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The author focuses on the variety of great marine reptiles of the Mesozoic Era. He covers all four major groups, referring, for each and every one, to excavations, discoveries and nomination issues, the last being a thorny tangle in palaeontology due mainly to the scarcity of data but also to scientist egos, e.g. the "Bone Wars" between Cope and March. Then, he proceeds with comments regarding the animals' locomotion, feeding strategies, reproduction issues etc.
Any such book is certain to touch controversial issues, such as whether these creatures were "warm-blooded" or "cold-blooded", or whether they laid eggs or gave birth to live young etc. The major point in favour of the author is his serious, open-minded scientific approach to all these issues, always trying to present all relevant theses along with their arguments. The opinions he offers are well balanced, and even if I did not always agree with them, I respected them.
On the down side, the "heavy" technical-scientific jargon of some passages, made sometimes following the book's arguments just a bit difficult. But only just, and otherwise the beautifully and vividly written text, combined with the illustrations, was a delight.
Any such book is certain to touch controversial issues, such as whether these creatures were "warm-blooded" or "cold-blooded", or whether they laid eggs or gave birth to live young etc. The major point in favour of the author is his serious, open-minded scientific approach to all these issues, always trying to present all relevant theses along with their arguments. The opinions he offers are well balanced, and even if I did not always agree with them, I respected them.
On the down side, the "heavy" technical-scientific jargon of some passages, made sometimes following the book's arguments just a bit difficult. But only just, and otherwise the beautifully and vividly written text, combined with the illustrations, was a delight.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Prehistoric Marine Life is often overlooked in popular culture compared to life on land in the age of dinosaurs. This book rectifies that with simple descriptions of the evolution of those magnificent and varied creatures. The descriptions are clear and therefore easily understood by laymen like me. It brings life on earth in the Mesozoic into perspective and puts right a few myths about marine reptiles of the time.
Knowledge of that period is growing at such a rate that a new edition will be needed soon. However, this is the best single volume on ancient sea reptiles that I have seen.
Knowledge of that period is growing at such a rate that a new edition will be needed soon. However, this is the best single volume on ancient sea reptiles that I have seen.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The next time you're setting up a putt on the ninth hole at Smoky HillCountry Club in Hays, Kansas, pause a moment. Glance around you at thearid hills and scattered vegetation. It's difficult to comprehend thatwhere you're standing was once under hundreds of metres of sea water.Millions of years in the past most of what is now central North Americalay beneath the great Niobrara Sea [better known as the Bear Paw Sea]. Norwould you feel lonely - it was inhabited by all manner of creatures.However, some of these rivalled in size and ferocity the greatland-dwelling dinosaurs of the same period. Richard Ellis has started tofill a long-standing gap in revealing how these creatures likely lived.And perhaps why they are no longer with us.
Ancient marine reptiles developed to immense sizes and bizarre shapes.Ellis focusses on the four major types, all of which had one commonalty -size. After a brief lesson on nomenclature and a dismissal of the LochNess enigma, he goes on to introduce us to some true monsters. Andgargantuan they are! The fossils found in Britain and Belgium almost twocenturies ago amazed the world with their likely size. Those revealedsince, many from around Hays, Kansas, achieve lengths of up to twentymetres. In line with their massive bodies, some bore impressive dentalequipment, with some teeth achieving twenty centimetres in length. Seekingprey at depth, they developed eyes the size of dinner plates. These wereformidable creatures, indeed.
Ellis compiles fossil evidence to develop a picture of marine reptilelifestyles. They were all predators, but shape, locomotion and capacityfor diving to extreme depths combined to focus on particular niches. Somemust have been a glorious sight [if they didn't see you!], literally"flying" through the water like penguins. Others undulated their bodieslike snakes, although, as Ellis states, no snakes were present in the seasat the time. The ichthyosaurs seem to have resembled tunas in shape andmotion. The most extraordinary were the long-necked plesiosaurs who mayhave been bottom feeders. The range of body types and swimming styles is areflection of the long period of their dominance. They were successfulenough to have occupied the full extent of the world's oceans of thetime.
There are a few quirks in this book the general reader should note. Thesereptiles maintained an imposing set of food processors and there's achallenge in demonstrating many factors in but one illustration. As Ellisnotes often, how they appeared and how they lived relies much on what theyate. But, unlike the many illustrations he provides for dramatic effect,they didn't cruise the seas mouths agape. That's for fish with gills, notair-breathing reptiles. There's some irony in the illustration [p. 212]depicting a mosasaur swimming closed-mouthed, but bending its neck in amanner no large reptile with only seven vertebrae could achieve. Theseare, of course, minor issues and detract little from Ellis presentation.Still, as a learning resource for the non-paleontologists among us, it wasincumbent on Ellis to use his wealth of information accurately. [stephena. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Ancient marine reptiles developed to immense sizes and bizarre shapes.Ellis focusses on the four major types, all of which had one commonalty -size. After a brief lesson on nomenclature and a dismissal of the LochNess enigma, he goes on to introduce us to some true monsters. Andgargantuan they are! The fossils found in Britain and Belgium almost twocenturies ago amazed the world with their likely size. Those revealedsince, many from around Hays, Kansas, achieve lengths of up to twentymetres. In line with their massive bodies, some bore impressive dentalequipment, with some teeth achieving twenty centimetres in length. Seekingprey at depth, they developed eyes the size of dinner plates. These wereformidable creatures, indeed.
Ellis compiles fossil evidence to develop a picture of marine reptilelifestyles. They were all predators, but shape, locomotion and capacityfor diving to extreme depths combined to focus on particular niches. Somemust have been a glorious sight [if they didn't see you!], literally"flying" through the water like penguins. Others undulated their bodieslike snakes, although, as Ellis states, no snakes were present in the seasat the time. The ichthyosaurs seem to have resembled tunas in shape andmotion. The most extraordinary were the long-necked plesiosaurs who mayhave been bottom feeders. The range of body types and swimming styles is areflection of the long period of their dominance. They were successfulenough to have occupied the full extent of the world's oceans of thetime.
There are a few quirks in this book the general reader should note. Thesereptiles maintained an imposing set of food processors and there's achallenge in demonstrating many factors in but one illustration. As Ellisnotes often, how they appeared and how they lived relies much on what theyate. But, unlike the many illustrations he provides for dramatic effect,they didn't cruise the seas mouths agape. That's for fish with gills, notair-breathing reptiles. There's some irony in the illustration [p. 212]depicting a mosasaur swimming closed-mouthed, but bending its neck in amanner no large reptile with only seven vertebrae could achieve. Theseare, of course, minor issues and detract little from Ellis presentation.Still, as a learning resource for the non-paleontologists among us, it wasincumbent on Ellis to use his wealth of information accurately. [stephena. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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