Table of Contents

Contents:AcknowledgementsForeword by Ernest L. Lundelius, Jr.The background story A brief history of fossil mammal discoveries Why Australian mammals are different Monotremes: wide leg and lay eggs Thingodontans: old relics from Gondwana Dasyures, numbats and thylacines: diverse eaters of flesh Marsupial moles: the ancient diggers Bandicoots and bilbies: long noses and broad appetites Koalas and kin: gummed tight to trees Wombats and kin: pouched in reverse and diverse Possums: hangers and gliders trained in the trees Kangaroos: hoppers, snippers and rippers Bats: winged and wordly wanderers Rats and mice: nimble gnawers from the north Marine mammals: sleek swimmers of the seas Weird things not so easily pigeonholed Glossary of scientific terms Selected Bibliography by Alexander Baynes Index

Promotional Information

We are just beginning to understand the history of the Australian mammalian fauna. The authors of this volume have devoted their professional lives to the painstaking task of breathing life into old bones. They here provide a compendium of the most current information on the fossil taxa, how they resemble their closest relatives, and what may be inferred about their way of life. Readers will not only find this book to be a guide to the past mammalian fauna of Australia but also a means of understanding how scientists work at deciphering this story. -- from the Foreword by Ernest L. Lundelius Jr.

About the Author

John A. Long is the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Western Australian Museum and the author of The Rise of Fishes, also available from Johns Hopkins. Michael Archer is the director of the Australian Museum in Sydney and a professor of biological science at the University of New South Wales. Timothy Flannery is the director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide and an acclaimed author. Suzanne Hand is the senior project scientist in the School of Biological Science at the University of New South Wales.