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The Call of Distant Mammoths: Why the Ice Age Mammals Disappeared
To help us understand what happened during the Ice Age, Peter Ward takes us on a tour of other mass extinctions through earth's history. He presents a compelling account of the great comet crash that killed off the dinosaurs, and describes other extinctions that were even more extensive. In so doing, he introduces us to a profound paradigm shift now taking place in paleontology: rather than arising from the gradual workings of everyday forces, all mass extinctions are due to unique, catastrophic events. Written with an irresistible combination of passion and expertise, The Call of Distant Mammoths is an engaging exploration of the history of life and the importance of humanity as an evolutionary force.
"Carefully argued...an intelligent and compelling book."-THE OLYMPIAN, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
"Ward deftly summarizes a large body of scientific literature, simplifying complex ideas for the general reader without condescension."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Did the overkill really happen?...Peter Ward deftly summarizes the arguments...Ward tells (the story) well."-THE NEW SCIENTIST
"Carefully argued...an intelligent and compelling book."-THE OLYMPIAN, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
"Ward deftly summarizes a large body of scientific literature, simplifying complex ideas for the general reader without condescension."-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Did the overkill really happen?...Peter Ward deftly summarizes the arguments...Ward tells (the story) well."-THE NEW SCIENTIST
261 pages, Hardcover
First published November 4, 2002
5 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Peter D. Ward
29 books104 followersPeter Douglas Ward is an American paleontologist and professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle. He has written popular numerous science works for a general audience and is also an adviser to the Microbes Mind Forum.
His parents, Joseph and Ruth Ward, moved to Seattle following World War II. Ward grew up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, attending Franklin High School, and he spent time during summers at a family summer cabin on Orcas Island.
Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with Ohio State University, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the University of California, McMaster University (where he received his PhD in 1976), and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1984.
Ward specializes in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and mass extinctions generally. He has published books on biodiversity and the fossil record. His 1992 book On Methuselah's Trail received a Golden Trilobite Award from the Paleontological Society as the best popular science book of the year. Ward also serves as an adjunct professor of zoology and astronomy.
His book The End of Evolution was published in 1994. In it, he discussed in three parts, each about an extinction event on earth.
Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, published in 2000. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. In 2001, his book Future Evolution was published, featuring illustrations by artist Alexis Rockman.
Ward and Brownlee are also co-authors of the book The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of the World, which discusses the Earth's future and eventual demise as it is ultimately destroyed by a warming and expanding Sun.
According to Ward's 2007 book, Under a Green Sky, all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change—the same global warming that occurs today. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating "this is how the world ends." Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction.
His parents, Joseph and Ruth Ward, moved to Seattle following World War II. Ward grew up in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, attending Franklin High School, and he spent time during summers at a family summer cabin on Orcas Island.
Ward's academic career has included teaching posts and professional connections with Ohio State University, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the University of California, McMaster University (where he received his PhD in 1976), and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 1984.
Ward specializes in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, the Permian–Triassic extinction event, and mass extinctions generally. He has published books on biodiversity and the fossil record. His 1992 book On Methuselah's Trail received a Golden Trilobite Award from the Paleontological Society as the best popular science book of the year. Ward also serves as an adjunct professor of zoology and astronomy.
His book The End of Evolution was published in 1994. In it, he discussed in three parts, each about an extinction event on earth.
Ward is co-author, along with astronomer Donald Brownlee, of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, published in 2000. In that work, the authors suggest that the universe is fundamentally hostile to advanced life, and that, while simple life might be abundant, the likelihood of widespread lifeforms as advanced as those on Earth is marginal. In 2001, his book Future Evolution was published, featuring illustrations by artist Alexis Rockman.
Ward and Brownlee are also co-authors of the book The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of the World, which discusses the Earth's future and eventual demise as it is ultimately destroyed by a warming and expanding Sun.
According to Ward's 2007 book, Under a Green Sky, all but one of the major mass extinction events in history have been brought on by climate change—the same global warming that occurs today. The author argues that events in the past can give valuable information about the future of our planet. Reviewer Doug Brown goes further, stating "this is how the world ends." Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds also warn that the fossil record supports evidence of impending mass extinction.
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September 20, 2021
I’ve long been interested in the megafauna extinctions of Pleistocene North America. A number of books endorse Paul Martin’s “Pleistocene Overkill Hypothesis,” which asserts that the early humans on the continent were “super predators” who launched a blitzkrieg of overhunting. Hunting began in northwest Canada, and spread south and east like a wild fire. Within 2,000 years, at least 33 genera (50 species) of large mammals went extinct — many more than in the preceding three million years. At first contact, large animals who had never before seen odd-looking humans, did not sense danger.
In other locations, when humans first arrived, extinctions followed — for example, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and Caribbean islands. Hunting, and hunting alone, was the cause, said Martin. His ideas really pissed off Native Americans, like Vine Deloria, because overkill implied that Indians were as foolish as Euro Americans.
Deloria blasted the hypothesis, pointing to the fantastic number of bones found in northern Siberia — mammoths, mastodons, rhinos, horses, bison. Chinese have been hauling away mammoth tusks since medieval times, and this ivory is still being mined today; a high-quality tusk can fetch over $40,000. The white keys on grandma’s piano might be mammoth ivory.
These bones were not the result of a blitzkrieg. Mastodons had been living in Siberia for 400,000 years, and woolly mammoths for 250,000 years. The frigid climate helped to preserve their remains. In central Russia, more than 70 mammoth bone huts have been found. One hut had 385 bones, and weighed 20 tons.
I just read The Call of Distant Mammoths by paleontologist Peter Ward, and learned a lot about extinction and evolution. I’ve often wondered how hairy lads, on foot, with wooden spears, were able to exterminate every horse in all of North America within 2,000 years. Bison were also residents of the open plains, able to sprint up to 35 miles per hour, and they did not go extinct — and horses could run even faster.
Ward introduces us to the climate change hypothesis. During the two million year Ice Age (the Pleistocene), there were at least 18 glaciation cycles. Until the last cycle, the megafauna had mostly survived. The last one began 18,000 years ago, and it was the most intense of all. It ended 12,000 years ago. The ice pack melted, forest advanced, and habitats rapidly changed. The mammoth tundra fragmented and shrank, which split the herbivore population into isolated groups.
Ward also studied the extinction of dinosaurs. They roamed the Earth for 160 million years, and then disappeared. Ward was an early advocate of the notion that the dinosaur mass extinction was sudden, caused by an asteroid strike near Chicxulub, Mexico. Some say it resulted in a decade of near-freezing temperatures on a planet that was largely tropical.
Throughout the dinosaur era, small mammals also existed — insect eating night creatures. The extinction of dinosaurs eliminated large animals, and made the age of mammals possible. If not for the asteroid, humans and elephants would have never evolved. Mammoth country once ranged from France to Siberia to New York.
Our primate ancestors evolved in the trees. Their tropical homeland was eventually chilled by an era of glaciation. It thinned the rainforest, and expanded savannahs, which encouraged the evolution of large herbivores, including our hominid ancestors. Thus, you and I are the children of climate change and asteroids.
Evolution is a process that creates and deletes species. New species can only emerge when a group becomes isolated, evolves unique traits, and eventually becomes unable to interbreed with their old kin. Homo sapiens come in many sizes, shapes, and colors, but all belong to the same species, because we can all interbreed. Ward expects white skinned people to disappear in a few thousand years, because of their increasing vulnerability to skin cancer.
Our cultural myths tell us that humans are continuously getting smarter. Ward believes that the brains of modern humans are essentially the same as the first Homo sapiens in Africa, 125,000 to 200,000 years ago (but we’ve learned lots of stuff since then). Once a new species emerges, it changes little thereafter. Humans are the last species of the hominids, and this has risks. A gene pool has better odds for long-term survival when it diversifies into multiple species, as the ants have.
Another way for critters to avoid extinction is to become generalists, like humans, rats, and cockroaches, who have adapted to many different ecosystems around the world. Today, humans live everywhere. There is no place a group could remain isolated for millennia. So, there is little chance for a new hominid species to emerge.
Evolution is random, like tossing dice. The process is influenced by ongoing environmental change, natural selection, and genetic drift (chance genetic changes). Evolution has no foresight; it can’t anticipate coming changes. It’s not always progressive. Greenland ice core data tells us that there have been times when global temperature changed up to 18°F in a few decades. Many gene pools that work well in one set of conditions will fail to adapt to sudden shifts.
The golden rule of evolution is adapt or die. Ward doesn’t discuss cultural evolution, which is a million times faster than genetic evolution, and has catapulted humankind onto extremely thin ice, by overloading our tropical primate brains with way too many half-smart ideas. We are, by far, the world champion resource parasites. We are hurling countless species into the abyss in our insane impossible quest for perpetual economic growth.
In an extremely quirky twist, Ward celebrates human supremacy at causing mass extinction. “We are the comet now. And not only have we won the game of evolution; we control the rules of the game,” he wrote. “And to this winner, in my view, goes an even greater prize: species immortality. It is my opinion that no matter where on the board we humans land and no matter what card we draw, we cannot be knocked into extinction.” Who could disagree?
The book was written 20 years ago, when resource limits and climate change were still dumb ideas among the lunatic fringe — rational people. Ward is employed in academia, which remains a militant hotbed of radicalized human supremacists.
OK, back to the megafauna. Doubts are growing about the overkill hypothesis. Martin claimed a sudden 2,000-year rampage wiped out the megafauna, but this was based on data generated by obsolete dating technology. Improved dating does not confirm sudden extinction. Martin claimed the extinctions fanned out in a wave, beginning in Alberta — so kill sites far from there should be more recent. They aren’t. We have only discovered a dozen sites where human artifacts are found with mammoth remains.
Dan Fisher has studied of mammoth tusks in Michigan and Ohio. Tusks have annual rings inside, like tree trunks. Rings are thin in hungry years. In female tusks, rings mark each pregnancy, providing a birth rate. If climate change had killed the mammoths, the rings would indicate malnutrition, but Fisher found that the last mammals were “fat, fit, and well fed.”
Ward suspects that the mammoths were the victims of hunting. Unlike bunnies, mammoths were slow to mature, and had low reproduction rates. If hunters had regularly taken just two percent of the animals each year, the extinction process would have taken 400 years — too slow for each generation of hunters to notice. Hunting alone could have wiped them out. Ward thinks that if there had been no hunting, mammoths would probably have survived the warming climate.
In the 1990s, editors adamantly insisted that manuscripts like Ward’s include brilliant solutions and happy endings, because bummer books didn’t sell. So, his mammoth book ends with a happy visit to the year 3001. Population was well below its peak of 11 billion. The U.S. grain belt was a desert. African survivors were healthy vegetarians with solar panels and pedal-powered transport. The rainforest was long gone, replaced with endless fields of GMO crops. Wildlife and livestock had been eliminated by starving hordes. Happily, the human species survived — hooray!
Compulsory happy endings meant that vital knowledge was deliberately withheld from an entire generation, who are now teachers, reporters, and leaders. Even today, a “don’t frighten the children” strategy remains common among educators, and young minds are still being infected with a carcinogenic worldview. Bummer!
In other locations, when humans first arrived, extinctions followed — for example, Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and Caribbean islands. Hunting, and hunting alone, was the cause, said Martin. His ideas really pissed off Native Americans, like Vine Deloria, because overkill implied that Indians were as foolish as Euro Americans.
Deloria blasted the hypothesis, pointing to the fantastic number of bones found in northern Siberia — mammoths, mastodons, rhinos, horses, bison. Chinese have been hauling away mammoth tusks since medieval times, and this ivory is still being mined today; a high-quality tusk can fetch over $40,000. The white keys on grandma’s piano might be mammoth ivory.
These bones were not the result of a blitzkrieg. Mastodons had been living in Siberia for 400,000 years, and woolly mammoths for 250,000 years. The frigid climate helped to preserve their remains. In central Russia, more than 70 mammoth bone huts have been found. One hut had 385 bones, and weighed 20 tons.
I just read The Call of Distant Mammoths by paleontologist Peter Ward, and learned a lot about extinction and evolution. I’ve often wondered how hairy lads, on foot, with wooden spears, were able to exterminate every horse in all of North America within 2,000 years. Bison were also residents of the open plains, able to sprint up to 35 miles per hour, and they did not go extinct — and horses could run even faster.
Ward introduces us to the climate change hypothesis. During the two million year Ice Age (the Pleistocene), there were at least 18 glaciation cycles. Until the last cycle, the megafauna had mostly survived. The last one began 18,000 years ago, and it was the most intense of all. It ended 12,000 years ago. The ice pack melted, forest advanced, and habitats rapidly changed. The mammoth tundra fragmented and shrank, which split the herbivore population into isolated groups.
Ward also studied the extinction of dinosaurs. They roamed the Earth for 160 million years, and then disappeared. Ward was an early advocate of the notion that the dinosaur mass extinction was sudden, caused by an asteroid strike near Chicxulub, Mexico. Some say it resulted in a decade of near-freezing temperatures on a planet that was largely tropical.
Throughout the dinosaur era, small mammals also existed — insect eating night creatures. The extinction of dinosaurs eliminated large animals, and made the age of mammals possible. If not for the asteroid, humans and elephants would have never evolved. Mammoth country once ranged from France to Siberia to New York.
Our primate ancestors evolved in the trees. Their tropical homeland was eventually chilled by an era of glaciation. It thinned the rainforest, and expanded savannahs, which encouraged the evolution of large herbivores, including our hominid ancestors. Thus, you and I are the children of climate change and asteroids.
Evolution is a process that creates and deletes species. New species can only emerge when a group becomes isolated, evolves unique traits, and eventually becomes unable to interbreed with their old kin. Homo sapiens come in many sizes, shapes, and colors, but all belong to the same species, because we can all interbreed. Ward expects white skinned people to disappear in a few thousand years, because of their increasing vulnerability to skin cancer.
Our cultural myths tell us that humans are continuously getting smarter. Ward believes that the brains of modern humans are essentially the same as the first Homo sapiens in Africa, 125,000 to 200,000 years ago (but we’ve learned lots of stuff since then). Once a new species emerges, it changes little thereafter. Humans are the last species of the hominids, and this has risks. A gene pool has better odds for long-term survival when it diversifies into multiple species, as the ants have.
Another way for critters to avoid extinction is to become generalists, like humans, rats, and cockroaches, who have adapted to many different ecosystems around the world. Today, humans live everywhere. There is no place a group could remain isolated for millennia. So, there is little chance for a new hominid species to emerge.
Evolution is random, like tossing dice. The process is influenced by ongoing environmental change, natural selection, and genetic drift (chance genetic changes). Evolution has no foresight; it can’t anticipate coming changes. It’s not always progressive. Greenland ice core data tells us that there have been times when global temperature changed up to 18°F in a few decades. Many gene pools that work well in one set of conditions will fail to adapt to sudden shifts.
The golden rule of evolution is adapt or die. Ward doesn’t discuss cultural evolution, which is a million times faster than genetic evolution, and has catapulted humankind onto extremely thin ice, by overloading our tropical primate brains with way too many half-smart ideas. We are, by far, the world champion resource parasites. We are hurling countless species into the abyss in our insane impossible quest for perpetual economic growth.
In an extremely quirky twist, Ward celebrates human supremacy at causing mass extinction. “We are the comet now. And not only have we won the game of evolution; we control the rules of the game,” he wrote. “And to this winner, in my view, goes an even greater prize: species immortality. It is my opinion that no matter where on the board we humans land and no matter what card we draw, we cannot be knocked into extinction.” Who could disagree?
The book was written 20 years ago, when resource limits and climate change were still dumb ideas among the lunatic fringe — rational people. Ward is employed in academia, which remains a militant hotbed of radicalized human supremacists.
OK, back to the megafauna. Doubts are growing about the overkill hypothesis. Martin claimed a sudden 2,000-year rampage wiped out the megafauna, but this was based on data generated by obsolete dating technology. Improved dating does not confirm sudden extinction. Martin claimed the extinctions fanned out in a wave, beginning in Alberta — so kill sites far from there should be more recent. They aren’t. We have only discovered a dozen sites where human artifacts are found with mammoth remains.
Dan Fisher has studied of mammoth tusks in Michigan and Ohio. Tusks have annual rings inside, like tree trunks. Rings are thin in hungry years. In female tusks, rings mark each pregnancy, providing a birth rate. If climate change had killed the mammoths, the rings would indicate malnutrition, but Fisher found that the last mammals were “fat, fit, and well fed.”
Ward suspects that the mammoths were the victims of hunting. Unlike bunnies, mammoths were slow to mature, and had low reproduction rates. If hunters had regularly taken just two percent of the animals each year, the extinction process would have taken 400 years — too slow for each generation of hunters to notice. Hunting alone could have wiped them out. Ward thinks that if there had been no hunting, mammoths would probably have survived the warming climate.
In the 1990s, editors adamantly insisted that manuscripts like Ward’s include brilliant solutions and happy endings, because bummer books didn’t sell. So, his mammoth book ends with a happy visit to the year 3001. Population was well below its peak of 11 billion. The U.S. grain belt was a desert. African survivors were healthy vegetarians with solar panels and pedal-powered transport. The rainforest was long gone, replaced with endless fields of GMO crops. Wildlife and livestock had been eliminated by starving hordes. Happily, the human species survived — hooray!
Compulsory happy endings meant that vital knowledge was deliberately withheld from an entire generation, who are now teachers, reporters, and leaders. Even today, a “don’t frighten the children” strategy remains common among educators, and young minds are still being infected with a carcinogenic worldview. Bummer!
June 10, 2022
Jak w kryminale dopiero w ostatnim rozdziale P. Ward podaje „niepodważalny dowód” na poparcie raczej nie kwestionowanej już dzisiaj hipotezy o wybiciu mastodontów, mamutów i innych przedstawicieli późnoplejstoceńskiej megafauny przez ludzi na kontynencie amerykańskim ok. 10 tys. lat temu. Dodowem tym jest analiza przekrojów znajdowanych mamucich ciosów, świadcząca o tym, że zwierzęta te były dobrze odżywione i dobrze się rozmnażały. Matematyczne modelowanie krzywych wymierania dowodzi, że do eliminacji tych gatunków wystarczyło zabijać rocznie zaledwie ponad 2% tych zwierząt. Interesujące jest dlaczego ludzie paleoindiańskiej kultury Clovis uparli się na swoją niezdrową, czysto mamucią dietę, co w efekcie zakończyło egzystencję i mamutów i samych Clovis. Kamienne groty znajdowane przy kościach dowodzą polowań. Podobnie jak autora zaintrygowało mnie dlaczego ludzie porzucali tak cenne i bardzo pracochłonne przedmioty, ewidentnie wielokrotnego użytku. Autor też stawia takie pytanie, nie udzielając na nie odpowiedzi. Czyżby był w tym jakiś irracjonalny i jak zawsze zgubny pierwiastek religijny?
Książka porusza szereg ciekawych aspektów, jak np. teoria punktualizmu Nilesa Eldredge’a – ża największe zmiany morfologii zachodzą w trakcie epizodów specjacji, kiedy powstaje gatunek, a później już zasadniczo nie… Unieprawdopodabnia to niestety różne literackie dystopie, jak np. podział ludzkości na Elojów i zjadających ich Morloków w „Wehikule czasu” Wellsa, czy na zwykłych i neoludzi w „Możliwości wyspy” Houellebecka, czy wreszcie całkiem współczesną i niebeletrystyczną wizję Yuvala Harariego rychłego wydzielenia się uprzywilejowanej warstwy zmodyfikowanych superludzi.
Książka została napisana ćwierć wieku temu i z punktu widzenia dzisiejszej narracji zawiera pewne nieścisłości, jak np. wiek wszechświata 18 mld lat. Ale jednocześnie przypomina, że w okresie między 200, a 10 tysiącami lat temu temperatura Ziemi zmieniała się, aż o 8 deg C w ciągu kilku dziesiątków lat (a w młodszym dryasie o 14 deg w ciągu 50 lat!). Te bezsporne fakty są już dzisiaj pomijane milczeniem, gdyż obowiązuje jedynie słuszna narracja wyłącznie o konieczności ograniczenia antropogenicznego wzrostu stężenia CO2 w atmosferze. Uwzględniając modele matematyczne Ward zarysowuje pojęcie „długu wymierania”. Kilkuprocentowe rocznie wybijanie jakiegoś gatunku nie powoduje natychmiastowego załamania się jego liczebności, ale ostatecznie skazuje go na wyginięcie w dłuższym okresie czasu. To niezwykle kiepsko rokuje dla wszystkich obecnych jeszcze gatunków.. W zakresie działań postulowanych przez autora zabrakło mi konieczności zrezygnowania przez ludzkość z masowego odżywiania się mięsem. Ale ten aspekt przedziera się już powoli do powszechnej narracji..
Książka porusza szereg ciekawych aspektów, jak np. teoria punktualizmu Nilesa Eldredge’a – ża największe zmiany morfologii zachodzą w trakcie epizodów specjacji, kiedy powstaje gatunek, a później już zasadniczo nie… Unieprawdopodabnia to niestety różne literackie dystopie, jak np. podział ludzkości na Elojów i zjadających ich Morloków w „Wehikule czasu” Wellsa, czy na zwykłych i neoludzi w „Możliwości wyspy” Houellebecka, czy wreszcie całkiem współczesną i niebeletrystyczną wizję Yuvala Harariego rychłego wydzielenia się uprzywilejowanej warstwy zmodyfikowanych superludzi.
Książka została napisana ćwierć wieku temu i z punktu widzenia dzisiejszej narracji zawiera pewne nieścisłości, jak np. wiek wszechświata 18 mld lat. Ale jednocześnie przypomina, że w okresie między 200, a 10 tysiącami lat temu temperatura Ziemi zmieniała się, aż o 8 deg C w ciągu kilku dziesiątków lat (a w młodszym dryasie o 14 deg w ciągu 50 lat!). Te bezsporne fakty są już dzisiaj pomijane milczeniem, gdyż obowiązuje jedynie słuszna narracja wyłącznie o konieczności ograniczenia antropogenicznego wzrostu stężenia CO2 w atmosferze. Uwzględniając modele matematyczne Ward zarysowuje pojęcie „długu wymierania”. Kilkuprocentowe rocznie wybijanie jakiegoś gatunku nie powoduje natychmiastowego załamania się jego liczebności, ale ostatecznie skazuje go na wyginięcie w dłuższym okresie czasu. To niezwykle kiepsko rokuje dla wszystkich obecnych jeszcze gatunków.. W zakresie działań postulowanych przez autora zabrakło mi konieczności zrezygnowania przez ludzkość z masowego odżywiania się mięsem. Ale ten aspekt przedziera się już powoli do powszechnej narracji..
December 5, 2009
Everyone knows that the last ice age killed the mastodons and mammoths. Massive climate changes apparently altered their sources of food, the weather was difficult to adapt to and these mega mammals became extinct as a result of these powerful forces. But what if we are wrong in these assumptions?
Peter D. Ward instructs us to search elsewhere for the true culprit. To learn the truth, Ward leads us through several mass extinctions in Earth’s history, the demise of the mightiest of dinosaurs and the unceasing advance of the Clovis people and other groups of early man. On every continent, the great mammals disappeared shortly after the arrival of man. Coincidence? The author does not think so.
On top of this, some species seem to go into “protective mode” if their survival seems unlikely. For example, when modern elephants are threatened, they produce less offspring, not more. They’ve even been known to shove juveniles away from shrinking waterholes so that the adult elephants may drink, thus helping to ensure the survival of viable males and females capable of continuing the species. Could ancient mega mammals have exhibited similar behavior? If waves of hunters were added to this sad equation, might not mammoths and other large creatures have reached the overkill threshold, the point from which their species could never recover?
If so, how does this bode well for our future and the continuation of hundreds of species into the next century or millenium? Is it already too late? Read on, dear reader, read on and discover the true villain in this modern day mystery.
Peter D. Ward instructs us to search elsewhere for the true culprit. To learn the truth, Ward leads us through several mass extinctions in Earth’s history, the demise of the mightiest of dinosaurs and the unceasing advance of the Clovis people and other groups of early man. On every continent, the great mammals disappeared shortly after the arrival of man. Coincidence? The author does not think so.
On top of this, some species seem to go into “protective mode” if their survival seems unlikely. For example, when modern elephants are threatened, they produce less offspring, not more. They’ve even been known to shove juveniles away from shrinking waterholes so that the adult elephants may drink, thus helping to ensure the survival of viable males and females capable of continuing the species. Could ancient mega mammals have exhibited similar behavior? If waves of hunters were added to this sad equation, might not mammoths and other large creatures have reached the overkill threshold, the point from which their species could never recover?
If so, how does this bode well for our future and the continuation of hundreds of species into the next century or millenium? Is it already too late? Read on, dear reader, read on and discover the true villain in this modern day mystery.
September 15, 2010
A somewhat slanted overview of theories regarding the extinction of ice age mega fauna.
Within the first couple of paragraphs Ward makes it clear that he is a proponent of overkill theory. Though he does give a brief overview of other theories regarding the extinction event at the end of the ice age, overkill theory gets top billing.
The first 7 or so chapters of the book are kind of a waste. Ward uses these chapters to step into his "time machine", aka conjuring up romanticized visions of the late Cretaceous and Pleistocene, which though interesting and vivid are at times awkward (I started laughing when described diprotodon as "lovecraftian" in appearance) and start to get annoying. Other than that the rest of this time is spent mocking dinosaur paleontologist and ramblings about wanting to cause the extinction of the coca plant.
The final chapters of the book are the only parts of the book that have a substantial information though I had hoped it would have been a little more in depth.
Not a bad book, but not exactly a good one either.
Within the first couple of paragraphs Ward makes it clear that he is a proponent of overkill theory. Though he does give a brief overview of other theories regarding the extinction event at the end of the ice age, overkill theory gets top billing.
The first 7 or so chapters of the book are kind of a waste. Ward uses these chapters to step into his "time machine", aka conjuring up romanticized visions of the late Cretaceous and Pleistocene, which though interesting and vivid are at times awkward (I started laughing when described diprotodon as "lovecraftian" in appearance) and start to get annoying. Other than that the rest of this time is spent mocking dinosaur paleontologist and ramblings about wanting to cause the extinction of the coca plant.
The final chapters of the book are the only parts of the book that have a substantial information though I had hoped it would have been a little more in depth.
Not a bad book, but not exactly a good one either.
September 20, 2018
This book felt like a dish you order and it turns out to be something else then you expected, perhaps not a bad dish but you never quite let go of that feeling of disappointment. I picked the call of distant mammoths for exactly what the title promised, the disappearing of ice age mammals and yes those are included in the book, but they have to take a backseat to several other subject broached by Peter D Ward.
This book is as much or even more so, a book about the Mesozoic extinction, a debate on the (destructive) capabilities of mankind today, evolution and the place and role of paleontologists in society. It felt at times as if Ward got carried away while free writing and could not delete the albeit at times interesting little side notes he had added to his main text. I also have to say that book is accessible, has some memorable points and one liners that reveal its intent to be a mass audience book. in itself I have nothing against this, but in his attempt to broach so many subjects and near the end of the book trying to get people aware of how precarious the situation for elephants are, he somewhat loses sight what he set ought to do; explaining why ice age mammals disappeared.
Let me rephrase that, he does go in lengthy detail on theories how ice age mammals disappeared, but 90% of it is north america. Again, that is not what the title or book description says it will discuss. Yes north american Mammoths and mastodons (who get by far the most attention) are interesting and the debat whether mankind or climate change made them vanish is interesting; but so are saber tooth cats, European cave Hyena or ice age wild horses. None of these get even a slim analysis beyond the summary of animals that existed alongside those majestic mammoths, even the mammoths of Siberia and Europa have to fight for a scrap of attention.
I would also have liked a chapter that truly went into detail when it came to describing the ice age fauna and flora of north america during the ice age. That alongside the period of extinction is scattered all over the book alongside new arguments for the three sides in the debate (climate or humans/perhaps a bit of both). I get he wants to show how new arguments and new data are intertwined but I was not that fond of it, that he saved his smoking gun argument (he even calls that chapter the smoking gun) for near the end of the book left me with a mixed feeling. Yes it allows a reader to switch back and forth through the book siding with one side or another as new info and theories are being fed one bit at the time (first discoveries, the kill curve, preserved flora remains and so on); but on the other hand I did have a "well that was all a bit pointless" feeling. At the very end you get such a strong case for the mankind did it side (using fossilized tusks of mammoths to determine their health, body mass and reproduction which leaves marks on the development of tusks) that all of which became before nearly felt like a waste of time. I guess that is why he wanted to put so much of his book's span on the debate on dinosaur extinction (that has a tenacious group of people who will not accept the significant impact (baduum wish) of the meteor that gave the deathblow to the reptile world) as if to say; these climate people are on the losing side and will end up like those anti meteor people, unlike me, on the wrong side of the debate.
So in the end, I can't say it is not an enjoyable book, but it is somewhat misleading at the onset. All the side stories, the second and third objectives, the links with modern life (including lengthy moments of his life as when he made a visit to New Orleans for a conference) made the original subject suffer. I really disliked, for it made the book too silly and popular, the entire time machine image. Let's go back in time and see what the world looked like and at the end of the book he off course jumps forward a hundred years to discover all elephants died off and their call has joined the mammoths (yes your message has been heard loud and clear). If he had only used this gimmick to get his point across, it could have been passable, but he spends a sizable amount of time setting up this evolution board game to show how lucky, chance oriented evolution is. Again in itself fine, but it all took away time that I believe should have been spent on setting a stage of ice age world in which the extinction took place this book so eagerly wants to explain.
So yes, even tough it is a pleasant read with a lot of material to digest; it still fails it original mission. The same way a good dish you did not expect still leaves to desire, this book leaves you a bit disappointed if you had truly heard the call of distant mammoths.
This book is as much or even more so, a book about the Mesozoic extinction, a debate on the (destructive) capabilities of mankind today, evolution and the place and role of paleontologists in society. It felt at times as if Ward got carried away while free writing and could not delete the albeit at times interesting little side notes he had added to his main text. I also have to say that book is accessible, has some memorable points and one liners that reveal its intent to be a mass audience book. in itself I have nothing against this, but in his attempt to broach so many subjects and near the end of the book trying to get people aware of how precarious the situation for elephants are, he somewhat loses sight what he set ought to do; explaining why ice age mammals disappeared.
Let me rephrase that, he does go in lengthy detail on theories how ice age mammals disappeared, but 90% of it is north america. Again, that is not what the title or book description says it will discuss. Yes north american Mammoths and mastodons (who get by far the most attention) are interesting and the debat whether mankind or climate change made them vanish is interesting; but so are saber tooth cats, European cave Hyena or ice age wild horses. None of these get even a slim analysis beyond the summary of animals that existed alongside those majestic mammoths, even the mammoths of Siberia and Europa have to fight for a scrap of attention.
I would also have liked a chapter that truly went into detail when it came to describing the ice age fauna and flora of north america during the ice age. That alongside the period of extinction is scattered all over the book alongside new arguments for the three sides in the debate (climate or humans/perhaps a bit of both). I get he wants to show how new arguments and new data are intertwined but I was not that fond of it, that he saved his smoking gun argument (he even calls that chapter the smoking gun) for near the end of the book left me with a mixed feeling. Yes it allows a reader to switch back and forth through the book siding with one side or another as new info and theories are being fed one bit at the time (first discoveries, the kill curve, preserved flora remains and so on); but on the other hand I did have a "well that was all a bit pointless" feeling. At the very end you get such a strong case for the mankind did it side (using fossilized tusks of mammoths to determine their health, body mass and reproduction which leaves marks on the development of tusks) that all of which became before nearly felt like a waste of time. I guess that is why he wanted to put so much of his book's span on the debate on dinosaur extinction (that has a tenacious group of people who will not accept the significant impact (baduum wish) of the meteor that gave the deathblow to the reptile world) as if to say; these climate people are on the losing side and will end up like those anti meteor people, unlike me, on the wrong side of the debate.
So in the end, I can't say it is not an enjoyable book, but it is somewhat misleading at the onset. All the side stories, the second and third objectives, the links with modern life (including lengthy moments of his life as when he made a visit to New Orleans for a conference) made the original subject suffer. I really disliked, for it made the book too silly and popular, the entire time machine image. Let's go back in time and see what the world looked like and at the end of the book he off course jumps forward a hundred years to discover all elephants died off and their call has joined the mammoths (yes your message has been heard loud and clear). If he had only used this gimmick to get his point across, it could have been passable, but he spends a sizable amount of time setting up this evolution board game to show how lucky, chance oriented evolution is. Again in itself fine, but it all took away time that I believe should have been spent on setting a stage of ice age world in which the extinction took place this book so eagerly wants to explain.
So yes, even tough it is a pleasant read with a lot of material to digest; it still fails it original mission. The same way a good dish you did not expect still leaves to desire, this book leaves you a bit disappointed if you had truly heard the call of distant mammoths.
August 19, 2024
I am quite familiar with this perennial topic, having read books and the scientific literature on the subject. Today the evidence for humans as the main cause of the megafauna extinctions is almost unequivocal as more precise dating of fossils enable a more precise timeline of events. This work is however the most well written overview I have come across to date. While Paul Martin was the person who invented the overkill hypothesis and his popular work is a classic, the level of technical detail made it less accessible and succinct. Ward's prose on the other hand is almost lyrical and felt like reading well crafted fiction, with scenes and backdrops of past worlds well described. His arguments are carefully laid out at a casual pace and never felt over imposing, leaving the reader to make up his own mind about the facts presented. An added bonus was the discussion and comparison with the fifth mass extinction of the dinosaurs, how detractors refused to accept the possibility of rapid demise from an extraterrestrial impact and the parallel arguments used to discredit a similarly rapid disappearance of mammoths and other ice age beasts.
The age of this book obviously makes it outdated as we have made more discoveries and pushed back the age of human settlement of the Americas. However the general thrust of his arguments still remains valid, the intervening decades only lending more weight to it.
The age of this book obviously makes it outdated as we have made more discoveries and pushed back the age of human settlement of the Americas. However the general thrust of his arguments still remains valid, the intervening decades only lending more weight to it.
January 12, 2019
Fascinating read.
October 26, 2023
Niestety, ale sporo przestarzałych już informacji.
December 21, 2012
The Call of Distant Mammoths: Why the Ice Age Mammals Disappeared
Peter Ward
Stranger in a Strange Land!
While I don't agree with all of Peter Ward's theory's on extinction he's still one of my favorite science writers. In this book he not only reviews the Ice Age die off but covers some of the other extinction events as well. On the KT event Ward recounts going to a lecture in which Robert Bakker questions the whole impact scenario by saying "If all this is true, then why do we still have amphibians?" Ward thought this was a good point but then does not mention amphibians again for the remainder of the book. For me this was not the best book that Ward's ever written but he does cover a wide range of subjects in an entertaining manner. He brings up a good point on the extinction of mammoths and mastodons: because of the fragmentation of their environmental range, slow rate of reproduction and a long childhood they were extremely vulnerable to predation. The Human Overkill Theory is popular but has many problems so Ward covers both sides of the argument (see also: After the Ice Age by E C Pielou). In spite of my disagreement on some points I did enjoy the book. Maybe that's what science is all about.
Last Ranger
Peter Ward
Stranger in a Strange Land!
While I don't agree with all of Peter Ward's theory's on extinction he's still one of my favorite science writers. In this book he not only reviews the Ice Age die off but covers some of the other extinction events as well. On the KT event Ward recounts going to a lecture in which Robert Bakker questions the whole impact scenario by saying "If all this is true, then why do we still have amphibians?" Ward thought this was a good point but then does not mention amphibians again for the remainder of the book. For me this was not the best book that Ward's ever written but he does cover a wide range of subjects in an entertaining manner. He brings up a good point on the extinction of mammoths and mastodons: because of the fragmentation of their environmental range, slow rate of reproduction and a long childhood they were extremely vulnerable to predation. The Human Overkill Theory is popular but has many problems so Ward covers both sides of the argument (see also: After the Ice Age by E C Pielou). In spite of my disagreement on some points I did enjoy the book. Maybe that's what science is all about.
Last Ranger
May 16, 2013
Written in an engaging and very readable style, this book explores the great extinction in North America of the large animals, like mammoths, ground sloths and scimitar cats. Graphs, charts, equations and illustrations reveal what scientists know about the extinctions. In the end the book ends with more questions than answers as scientists still struggle to explain why so many animals died, yet so many more survived.
December 27, 2015
The Call of Distant Mammoths: Why the Ice Age Animals Disappeared by Peter D. Ward (Copernicus 1997)(569.6). In short, paleontologist Peter D. Ward argues that the reason for the disappearance of the Ice Age megafauna was overhunting by homo sapiens (us)! His position is well-argued but is definitely a minority view on the subject. My rating: 7/10, finished 9/1/2010.
May 31, 2008
This here book goes into many different theories regarding the last ice age, and the disappearance of the Mega Fauna (Mammoths, Mastodon, Giant Sloth, etc) that went with it.
August 17, 2012
Too outdated now.
November 13, 2014
Even out of date this book is an eye opener. READ IT!!!
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June 12, 2019
This is a fascinating read about the role of extinction in our natural history. Clearly written and entertaining. Lots of food for thought. I really enjoyed this one!
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