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The Evolution Underground: Burrows, Bunkers, and the Marvelous Subterranean World Beneath our Feet
Humans have “gone underground” for survival for thousands of years, from underground cities in Turkey to Cold War–era bunkers. But our burrowing roots go back to the very beginnings of animal life on earth. Without burrowing, the planet would be very different today. Many animal lineages alive now—including our own—only survived a cataclysmic meteorite strike 65 million years ago because they went underground.
On a grander scale, the chemistry of the planet itself had already been transformed many millions of years earlier by the first animal burrows, which altered whole ecosystems. Every day we walk on an earth filled with an under-ground wilderness teeming with life. Most of this life stays hidden, yet these animals and their subterranean homes are ubiquitous, ranging from the deep sea to mountains, from the equator to the poles.
Burrows are a refuge from predators, a safe home for raising young, or a tool to ambush prey. Burrows also protect animals against all types of natural disasters: fires, droughts, storms, meteorites, global warmings—and coolings. In a book filled with spectacularly diverse fauna, acclaimed paleontologist and ichnologist Anthony Martin reveals this fascinating, hidden world that will continue to influence and transform life on this planet.
On a grander scale, the chemistry of the planet itself had already been transformed many millions of years earlier by the first animal burrows, which altered whole ecosystems. Every day we walk on an earth filled with an under-ground wilderness teeming with life. Most of this life stays hidden, yet these animals and their subterranean homes are ubiquitous, ranging from the deep sea to mountains, from the equator to the poles.
Burrows are a refuge from predators, a safe home for raising young, or a tool to ambush prey. Burrows also protect animals against all types of natural disasters: fires, droughts, storms, meteorites, global warmings—and coolings. In a book filled with spectacularly diverse fauna, acclaimed paleontologist and ichnologist Anthony Martin reveals this fascinating, hidden world that will continue to influence and transform life on this planet.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
30 people are currently reading
1530 people want to read
About the author
Anthony J. Martin
8 books31 followersAnthony (Tony) Martin is a Professor of Practice at Emory University, where he has taught classes in geology, paleontology, and environmental sciences. His research specialty is ichnology, the study of modern and ancient traces caused by animal behavior, such as tracks, trails, burrows, and nests. He is the author of nine books, including DINOSAURS WITHOUT BONES, THE EVOLUTION UNDERGROUND, TRACKING THE GOLDEN ISLES, and LIFE TRACES OF THE GEORGIA COAST. His latest book is LIFE SCUPLTED, published June 2023. In 2015 - in recognition of his accomplishments in scientific exploration and public outreach - he was elected as a Fellow in The Explorers Club and a Fellow in the Geological Society of America. He and his wife Ruth live in Decatur, Georgia.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 18, 2020
This would have been a very short book if it had stuck to its basic premise: burrowing helps animals survive by providing refuge from predators and climate. Fortunately, it expands its scope a bit, spending a lot of time discussing evolution and the factors that were most likely to have helped creatures survive the great mass extinctions. Not surprisingly, there is evidence, some of it indirect, to support burrowing as a factor in survival in the Permian-Triassic extinction (252 million years ago (Ma)), the Triassic-Jurassic event (201 Ma) and the Cretaceous–Paleogene event (66 Ma).
The Cambrian Explosion, which started about 540 Ma and lasted for around 20 million years, is most notable because some of its fossil sites, such as the Burgess Shale, preserved impressions of soft-bodied creatures. However, it also shows clear evidence that predator-prey relationships had already matured, as teeth and claws were matched against shells and speed. This book succinctly describes the impetus behind this, saying “The biggest difference in the coevolution of predator-prey relations ... is that if a predator fails, it just goes hungry, whereas if the prey animal fails, it dies. This inequity means that prey have greater selection pressure applied to them than predators, as predators can still pass on their genes while malnourished, but dead prey cannot.” (p. 205)
The author, Anthony Martin, is a paleontologist, geologist, and ichnologist, the latter a term I had never heard before, which is the study of the traces animals leave behind. For the very earliest lifeforms, the only evidence of their existence is fossilized burrows, but ichnology is applied even to modern creatures in the study of how they modify their environments. A well known example would be earthworms, which collectively turn over, aerate, and fertilize soil in great abundance. Charles Darwin was so impressed by their abilities that he wrote a book about them.
The author makes the point that humans, too, are burrowers. There are over 200 underground villages and towns carved into the soft rock of Cappadocia, now part of eastern Turkey, the largest having a dozen levels, with sophisticated ventilation systems and capable of protecting thousands of people in times of danger. In the nuclear age modern humans discovered the benefits of hiding underground should a global annihilation event take place, with mountains hollowed out to provide military command and control for whatever was left of the country, and of course to save the precious asses of Congressmen.
There is an entire chapter devoted to an animal I had never heard of, but which is a star of the ichnologist community. The gopher tortoise is a master tunneler, digging huge, elaborate burrows which become their own ecosystems, providing living accommodations for up to 400 different kinds of snakes, lizards, insects, and the occasional small mammal. The amount of soil they excavate is remarkable, and they are true engineers of the animal world, altering the environment both above and below ground.
It is now generally accepted that some dinosaur species used burrows, and the author of this book played a role in uncovering and documenting that fact, although it was initially so far beyond standard paleontological thinking that he had difficulty getting his findings published. Using that idea as a jumping off place, he discusses how burrows might have provided critical shelter during mass extinctions. The generally accepted idea regarding them is that nothing larger than a cat managed to squeeze past the great die-offs and into the next era. All of the great extinction events were catastrophic, but the one at the boundary of the Permian-Triassic 252 Ma was as close as life ever came to perishing, with 95% of species vanishing. To bolster his argument he has an interesting chapter about how life recovered after the devastation of the Mount St. Helens explosion in 1980. Burrowing animals survived in even the most hard-hit areas, and their burrows served as shelters for other animals and plants to re-establish themselves.
So, lots of critters make burrows: crocodiles, turtles, birds, lungfish, amphibians, earthworms, insects, crustaceans, and mammals, and the book spends time on each of them, describing their special adaptations and how they modify their surroundings. For me most of this was moderately interesting, but since I have an interest in evolution, the best parts of the book were the discussions of ancient environment and the strategies animals used to pass along their genes.
The author is a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and I’m sure he is very popular with his students. His writing style is casual, even conversational, but sometimes he strains to make a joke. Two examples from the book:
“cute little alligator babies easily fit on the palm of an average adult human hand when newly hatched. Only later do they grow up to become monsters – much like how human children eventually turn into teenagers.” (p. 8)
“From its shoulder to its front toes, stout bones reinforced what must have been massive musculature and connective tissues. These appendages were not just made for what wildlife biologists call the thee “F’s” – fleeing, fighting, and mating – but also for digging.” (p. 130)
Okay, I don’t want to be too much of a wet blanket, but I could have done without the stand-up comedy bits. Overall I enjoyed the book. It taught me about animal behaviors I was unaware of, and helped reinforce some facts I knew about early evolution.
The Cambrian Explosion, which started about 540 Ma and lasted for around 20 million years, is most notable because some of its fossil sites, such as the Burgess Shale, preserved impressions of soft-bodied creatures. However, it also shows clear evidence that predator-prey relationships had already matured, as teeth and claws were matched against shells and speed. This book succinctly describes the impetus behind this, saying “The biggest difference in the coevolution of predator-prey relations ... is that if a predator fails, it just goes hungry, whereas if the prey animal fails, it dies. This inequity means that prey have greater selection pressure applied to them than predators, as predators can still pass on their genes while malnourished, but dead prey cannot.” (p. 205)
The author, Anthony Martin, is a paleontologist, geologist, and ichnologist, the latter a term I had never heard before, which is the study of the traces animals leave behind. For the very earliest lifeforms, the only evidence of their existence is fossilized burrows, but ichnology is applied even to modern creatures in the study of how they modify their environments. A well known example would be earthworms, which collectively turn over, aerate, and fertilize soil in great abundance. Charles Darwin was so impressed by their abilities that he wrote a book about them.
The author makes the point that humans, too, are burrowers. There are over 200 underground villages and towns carved into the soft rock of Cappadocia, now part of eastern Turkey, the largest having a dozen levels, with sophisticated ventilation systems and capable of protecting thousands of people in times of danger. In the nuclear age modern humans discovered the benefits of hiding underground should a global annihilation event take place, with mountains hollowed out to provide military command and control for whatever was left of the country, and of course to save the precious asses of Congressmen.
There is an entire chapter devoted to an animal I had never heard of, but which is a star of the ichnologist community. The gopher tortoise is a master tunneler, digging huge, elaborate burrows which become their own ecosystems, providing living accommodations for up to 400 different kinds of snakes, lizards, insects, and the occasional small mammal. The amount of soil they excavate is remarkable, and they are true engineers of the animal world, altering the environment both above and below ground.
It is now generally accepted that some dinosaur species used burrows, and the author of this book played a role in uncovering and documenting that fact, although it was initially so far beyond standard paleontological thinking that he had difficulty getting his findings published. Using that idea as a jumping off place, he discusses how burrows might have provided critical shelter during mass extinctions. The generally accepted idea regarding them is that nothing larger than a cat managed to squeeze past the great die-offs and into the next era. All of the great extinction events were catastrophic, but the one at the boundary of the Permian-Triassic 252 Ma was as close as life ever came to perishing, with 95% of species vanishing. To bolster his argument he has an interesting chapter about how life recovered after the devastation of the Mount St. Helens explosion in 1980. Burrowing animals survived in even the most hard-hit areas, and their burrows served as shelters for other animals and plants to re-establish themselves.
So, lots of critters make burrows: crocodiles, turtles, birds, lungfish, amphibians, earthworms, insects, crustaceans, and mammals, and the book spends time on each of them, describing their special adaptations and how they modify their surroundings. For me most of this was moderately interesting, but since I have an interest in evolution, the best parts of the book were the discussions of ancient environment and the strategies animals used to pass along their genes.
The author is a professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and I’m sure he is very popular with his students. His writing style is casual, even conversational, but sometimes he strains to make a joke. Two examples from the book:
“cute little alligator babies easily fit on the palm of an average adult human hand when newly hatched. Only later do they grow up to become monsters – much like how human children eventually turn into teenagers.” (p. 8)
“From its shoulder to its front toes, stout bones reinforced what must have been massive musculature and connective tissues. These appendages were not just made for what wildlife biologists call the thee “F’s” – fleeing, fighting, and mating – but also for digging.” (p. 130)
Okay, I don’t want to be too much of a wet blanket, but I could have done without the stand-up comedy bits. Overall I enjoyed the book. It taught me about animal behaviors I was unaware of, and helped reinforce some facts I knew about early evolution.
January 27, 2018
Anthony J. Martin is an ichnologist, a job title I would not have been able to define for you prior to reading "The Evolution Undergound". Ichnologists study the traces that living creatures have left on their environments, both in the present and in fossilized records, and in this book Martin focuses on the history of burrowing behavior. On the surface, this may not sound like a page-turner, but there is much great insight to be mined here. Burrows have provided protection against predation and natural disaster, offered even temperatures in all seasons, enhanced soil composition, increase species diversity, and numerous additional benefits. We first look at human burrows, from the ancient underground cities at Cappadocia to more recent Cold War bunkers designed to withstand nuclear blasts. Relatedly, many survivors of ancient mass extinctions persisted precisely because they dug borrows that gave them a means to weather the storms of volcanic action, climate change, and meteoric impact. We have burrows to thank for our own mammalian ancestors surviving the death of the dinosaurs. We even learn about the earliest indications of burrowing behavior in the Ediacaran Period (pre-Cambrian). Speaking of which, this book helped me solidify some of the Geologic period names and attributes. Along the way, Martin presents a wide variety of burrowers and looks at how their extended phenotypes have contributed to making the Earth the planet it is, all with a lot of good humor and infective enthusiasm.
June 20, 2019
A fascinating book that looks at burrows and a number of animals that make and live in them. Through various examples in the book, the author shows that burrows are not only an effective way to protect various animals from changes in the environment, but also a way for animals to change and engineer the environment to suit themselves. The chapters in the book makes up about half the book, with the rest given over to lots of endnotes and references. Such a large number of endnotes shows the amount of research and fact checking done to ensure that what is written in the book is supported by evidence and not just speculation on the author's part. And where there is speculation, the author points it out.
The first chapter gives an overview of what the book will cover. Starting with an expedition with undergraduates to examine burrows that alligators use, including one that has an unexpected alligator in it, the author then mentions why burrows are important for the survival of not just the alligators but also for a whole host of animals not just in the present but also in the past, including the ancestors of mammals. Burrows serve to insulate animals from changes in the environment, like temperature changes, fires and even possible extinction events.
Chapter Two looks at how human used burrows. The author uses the fascinating example of various underground cities he explored while on a trip to Turkey as the main example. He show how humans at the time dug into the soft rocks of the region of Turkey to carve out living spaces for themselves and to shelter animals as well as to preserve fruits and other food planted nearby. The underground cities also served as a form of defence from invading armies. Tunnels between cities were dug and used as transportation. Other more modern examples of underground living are then given, in the form of shelters against nuclear weapons. The author then speculates that burrowing animals like ants, badgers and moles might have provided examples for humans to emulate when planning such underground living quarters.
Chapter Three examines the burrows created by Gopher tortoises. These remarkable reptiles dig out burrows to live in, to procreate and to protect themselves against the harsh environment. But the burrows don't just serve tortoises. A large variety of animals (over 400 recorded species) have been discovered to use the tortoise burrows ranging from invertebrates to reptiles and mammals. Some of them are temporary residents, other are permanent. Some just use the burrows, while others dig and extend the burrows for their own use. The large number of burrows thus act as an ecosystem, earning the gopher tortoises the title of ecosystem engineers. The burrows not only support an entire ecosystem, they also serve to modify the landscape, aerate and turn over the soil. In genernal, the burrow systems help made the landscape a more hospitable place for the gophers themselves and the host of animals that depend on the burrows.
Chapter Four looks at the question of whether burrows might have been used by dinosaurs. The answer is probably yes. The author describes one of the first burrowing dinosaurs he helped discovered, as well as the trace fossil of the burrow probably dug by the dinosaur. The descendants of the dinosaurs, the birds, would also make and use burrows. While most birds live in high places or on the ground, some birds like penguins, the burrowing owl, a parrot, kingfishers and bee eaters do use (and make) burrows.
Chapter Five is a somewhat speculative look at how burrowing animals survived the various global catastrophes that have marked the various ages of the Earth. It starts with a speculative story involving a Lystrosaurus, an early kind of synapsid (synapsids are an ancestor to all mammals), surviving the climate change that marked the change from the Permian to Triassic period. Surviving in the changed environment would involve burrowing to protect itself from the environment. But as the number of surviving Lystrosaurus grow in the area, they become an ecosystem engineer, changing the environment via their burrows to suit themselves. Other major environmental catastrophes at the end of the Triassic and the end of the Cretaceous periods are also covered. And at each once, the author makes a point that burrows offer one way for animals to survive the catastrophes, and to then repopulate the world with new species of animals.
Chapter Six looks at how burrowing might help marine animals survive the harshness of surviving out of water. It starts by looking at trilobites fossils and their burrows, particularly those found in what appears to be the fossil remains of a river, which is unusual for a marine species. It is only by examining the environment closer that the author finally makes the right conclusion; that the river is an estuary (where the river meets the sea), and that the trilobites were living and burrowing in a salty environment. He then moves on to the modern example of the horseshoe crab, whose lifestyle resembles those of the trilobites, by coming out on to land and burrowing into the sandy soil to lay their eggs and to hide themselves. Another example of a marine species surviving on land presented is the lungfish, which is able to burrow and hibernate when their watery environment dries up. Burrows would also serve to protect amphibians from the environment and do it well enough that amphibians can be found even in the frozen arctic. The chapter closes by looking at iguanas that can survive hurricanes and storms using burrows and pointing to evidence that modern snakes evolved from burrowing snake ancestors.
Chapter Seven looks at when burrowing might have begun by looking at the trace fossils of the Ediacaran lifeforms. The evidence shows that these organisms did not have the ability to dig burrows into the bacterial mats that line the sea floor. It is only when life began to acquire shells and other hard parts (like teeth and claws) in the Cambrian era that evidence of burrows began to be seen. Shells are also seen as evidence that some creatures were protecting themselves against predators, starting a never ending arms-race between the prey and predators. In this race, burrows would prove to be one defensive method that would used by many life forms.
Chapter Eight looks at the various invertebrates that burrow, starting with the one probably best know to most people: earthworms. Earthworms turn out to be amazing burrowers, able to dig deep. More over, they are so numerous that studies have shown that they can collectively move tons of soil from underground and act as very effective ecosystem engineers. Ants are also featured, burrowing deep underground and digging out vast underground cities. Other larger invertebrates like lobsters, crayfish, crabs and shrimps are also featured, each other showing that while they are individually small, collectively they are very efficient at moving soil and changing the ecosystem they live in to suit themselves.
Chapter Nine opens with the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the devastation the eruption causes to the surrounding region. By now, you would not be surprised to learn that some animals survived the eruption and most of them would be those that were in burrows during the eruption, especially the pocket gophers whose burrows would not only protect them, but help to revive the forest by saving other animals and seeds that would rejuvenate the areas. The naked mole rat is also featured as well as their unusual social structure that resembles the social ants. The largest burrowers known are also featured: the extinct giant ground sloth from South America was well as bears. Coming to the present, the author talks about the current environmental crisis and extinctions and makes the case the burrowing animals are a vital part of the environment and plans to try to save and preserve the environment should also consider the burrowing creatures.
The first chapter gives an overview of what the book will cover. Starting with an expedition with undergraduates to examine burrows that alligators use, including one that has an unexpected alligator in it, the author then mentions why burrows are important for the survival of not just the alligators but also for a whole host of animals not just in the present but also in the past, including the ancestors of mammals. Burrows serve to insulate animals from changes in the environment, like temperature changes, fires and even possible extinction events.
Chapter Two looks at how human used burrows. The author uses the fascinating example of various underground cities he explored while on a trip to Turkey as the main example. He show how humans at the time dug into the soft rocks of the region of Turkey to carve out living spaces for themselves and to shelter animals as well as to preserve fruits and other food planted nearby. The underground cities also served as a form of defence from invading armies. Tunnels between cities were dug and used as transportation. Other more modern examples of underground living are then given, in the form of shelters against nuclear weapons. The author then speculates that burrowing animals like ants, badgers and moles might have provided examples for humans to emulate when planning such underground living quarters.
Chapter Three examines the burrows created by Gopher tortoises. These remarkable reptiles dig out burrows to live in, to procreate and to protect themselves against the harsh environment. But the burrows don't just serve tortoises. A large variety of animals (over 400 recorded species) have been discovered to use the tortoise burrows ranging from invertebrates to reptiles and mammals. Some of them are temporary residents, other are permanent. Some just use the burrows, while others dig and extend the burrows for their own use. The large number of burrows thus act as an ecosystem, earning the gopher tortoises the title of ecosystem engineers. The burrows not only support an entire ecosystem, they also serve to modify the landscape, aerate and turn over the soil. In genernal, the burrow systems help made the landscape a more hospitable place for the gophers themselves and the host of animals that depend on the burrows.
Chapter Four looks at the question of whether burrows might have been used by dinosaurs. The answer is probably yes. The author describes one of the first burrowing dinosaurs he helped discovered, as well as the trace fossil of the burrow probably dug by the dinosaur. The descendants of the dinosaurs, the birds, would also make and use burrows. While most birds live in high places or on the ground, some birds like penguins, the burrowing owl, a parrot, kingfishers and bee eaters do use (and make) burrows.
Chapter Five is a somewhat speculative look at how burrowing animals survived the various global catastrophes that have marked the various ages of the Earth. It starts with a speculative story involving a Lystrosaurus, an early kind of synapsid (synapsids are an ancestor to all mammals), surviving the climate change that marked the change from the Permian to Triassic period. Surviving in the changed environment would involve burrowing to protect itself from the environment. But as the number of surviving Lystrosaurus grow in the area, they become an ecosystem engineer, changing the environment via their burrows to suit themselves. Other major environmental catastrophes at the end of the Triassic and the end of the Cretaceous periods are also covered. And at each once, the author makes a point that burrows offer one way for animals to survive the catastrophes, and to then repopulate the world with new species of animals.
Chapter Six looks at how burrowing might help marine animals survive the harshness of surviving out of water. It starts by looking at trilobites fossils and their burrows, particularly those found in what appears to be the fossil remains of a river, which is unusual for a marine species. It is only by examining the environment closer that the author finally makes the right conclusion; that the river is an estuary (where the river meets the sea), and that the trilobites were living and burrowing in a salty environment. He then moves on to the modern example of the horseshoe crab, whose lifestyle resembles those of the trilobites, by coming out on to land and burrowing into the sandy soil to lay their eggs and to hide themselves. Another example of a marine species surviving on land presented is the lungfish, which is able to burrow and hibernate when their watery environment dries up. Burrows would also serve to protect amphibians from the environment and do it well enough that amphibians can be found even in the frozen arctic. The chapter closes by looking at iguanas that can survive hurricanes and storms using burrows and pointing to evidence that modern snakes evolved from burrowing snake ancestors.
Chapter Seven looks at when burrowing might have begun by looking at the trace fossils of the Ediacaran lifeforms. The evidence shows that these organisms did not have the ability to dig burrows into the bacterial mats that line the sea floor. It is only when life began to acquire shells and other hard parts (like teeth and claws) in the Cambrian era that evidence of burrows began to be seen. Shells are also seen as evidence that some creatures were protecting themselves against predators, starting a never ending arms-race between the prey and predators. In this race, burrows would prove to be one defensive method that would used by many life forms.
Chapter Eight looks at the various invertebrates that burrow, starting with the one probably best know to most people: earthworms. Earthworms turn out to be amazing burrowers, able to dig deep. More over, they are so numerous that studies have shown that they can collectively move tons of soil from underground and act as very effective ecosystem engineers. Ants are also featured, burrowing deep underground and digging out vast underground cities. Other larger invertebrates like lobsters, crayfish, crabs and shrimps are also featured, each other showing that while they are individually small, collectively they are very efficient at moving soil and changing the ecosystem they live in to suit themselves.
Chapter Nine opens with the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the devastation the eruption causes to the surrounding region. By now, you would not be surprised to learn that some animals survived the eruption and most of them would be those that were in burrows during the eruption, especially the pocket gophers whose burrows would not only protect them, but help to revive the forest by saving other animals and seeds that would rejuvenate the areas. The naked mole rat is also featured as well as their unusual social structure that resembles the social ants. The largest burrowers known are also featured: the extinct giant ground sloth from South America was well as bears. Coming to the present, the author talks about the current environmental crisis and extinctions and makes the case the burrowing animals are a vital part of the environment and plans to try to save and preserve the environment should also consider the burrowing creatures.
April 6, 2017
The Evolution of Life Underground by Antony J Martin was a Goodreads win
I am interested in evolution, so I was looking forward to receiving this book and reading it – I was not disappointed!
The book covers 630 million years, and 5 mass extinctions, making our recorded history and our own life spans look minute specks of time. The book does not start at the beginning, and work forward, but moves between eras, making comparisons and finding similarities with the past and present I found the time line chart, the first illustration in the book, very useful and kept going back to it. The other illustrations were relevant to the text, so were very interesting. I would have liked more ‘artist impressions’ of what the earth looked like in the past, and what the organisms looked like. I could envisage lystrosaurus, thanks to the illustration, but what did a trilobite look like?
Why do organisms burrow? We are led to the same conclusion through the different eras. Life in a burrow can overcome extremes of temperature, evening out too hot and too cold and provide a stable temperature. Burrow can protect from predators, and provide a safe environment for eggs and/or babies. What burrowing creatures did not know was that they could help survive extinction events. Tucked safely in burrow, maybe hibernating (mammals during the winter to avoid the cold) or during estivation, (short term summer behavior with reptiles that find a shady and moist place for themselves to avoid the summer heat); they could avoid the mass destruction of life above ground , then emerge to start again. This was demonstrated by a modern event, the Mount St Helens eruption that caused wide spread devastation. Pocket gophers survived because of their burrows, and then helped to regenerate the area by their burrowing activities, breaking up hard crusts and mixing up the earth, like mini excavators, enabling plants to start growing again.
Burrowing creatures help the environment, without intending to. Their burrows support an ecosystems of other organisms either co –existing or taking over old borrows. Gopher Tortoise have 400 species who benefit from their burrows ; including mice, insects and snakes. Burrows aerate the soil and mix up the soil layers, like digging. Some organic matter is taken into borrows; worms taking in leaves, animals taking in food and bedding.
I like the way that humans are included in the story. Caves were the first homes for primitive people, some extending into the ground, not just for safety but for art/ritual. Thousands of years ago there were underground cities in Turkey, ideal for keeping enemies at bay. Modern cold war bunkers were built in case of nuclear attack. Before a visit to Montreal, I read a guide book that said the people there spent most of the time preparing for winter, living through it and recovering from it! The underground shopping malls would certainly have helped. I like the idea at the end of the book. With overpopulation, unstable regimes and the ever present threat of nuclear war; maybe we should not be building up into the sky, but burrowing down to ensure our survival.
-And if we do engineer the next extinction event by our indifference to the planet, then remember all that life beneath our feet - over one million ants per person, invertebrates making up the vast majority of biomass and biodiversity in any given ecosystem; and those small burrowing mammals – who will evolve to take over?
I liked the way the book broke down its content into small chunks, which could be easily read. There was a balance between writing style – chatty and informal as if the author was there beside you, engaging you with his first hand field excursion tales and knowledge; and the more detailed, in depth style ( as in the marine/ estuary trace fossils). I also liked the way lystrosaurus survival was told through the eyes one such creature, the survival seen first- hand through its eyes. I assume the book was aimed at younger people rather than older ‘experts’, with its reference to cultural material e.g the Simpsons episode where the world is taken over by ants, and an animal moving at the same rate as a texting teenager!
The research has been extensive – 85 pages of note references! It was also appreciated a section of genera and species mentioned in the book- useful for checking who was who.
The book is written by an American, so a lot of the research and animals mentioned are American based, which assumes some knowledge of the country, which thanks to travel and TV programmes, most people have. I am interested in birds so a couple of things I had problems relating to. In the UK swallows nest in barns or houses, not in burrows. Our burrowing ‘swallow’ is the sand martin. The size of a bee eater is compared to a wren or sparrow. Our wrens are under 4 inches long, USA ones are slightly bigger; sparrows seems comparable, about 5 inches long. Bee eaters are 11 inches long, comparable in size to a UK blackbird.
An excellent book, very thought provoking -well worth reading!
I am interested in evolution, so I was looking forward to receiving this book and reading it – I was not disappointed!
The book covers 630 million years, and 5 mass extinctions, making our recorded history and our own life spans look minute specks of time. The book does not start at the beginning, and work forward, but moves between eras, making comparisons and finding similarities with the past and present I found the time line chart, the first illustration in the book, very useful and kept going back to it. The other illustrations were relevant to the text, so were very interesting. I would have liked more ‘artist impressions’ of what the earth looked like in the past, and what the organisms looked like. I could envisage lystrosaurus, thanks to the illustration, but what did a trilobite look like?
Why do organisms burrow? We are led to the same conclusion through the different eras. Life in a burrow can overcome extremes of temperature, evening out too hot and too cold and provide a stable temperature. Burrow can protect from predators, and provide a safe environment for eggs and/or babies. What burrowing creatures did not know was that they could help survive extinction events. Tucked safely in burrow, maybe hibernating (mammals during the winter to avoid the cold) or during estivation, (short term summer behavior with reptiles that find a shady and moist place for themselves to avoid the summer heat); they could avoid the mass destruction of life above ground , then emerge to start again. This was demonstrated by a modern event, the Mount St Helens eruption that caused wide spread devastation. Pocket gophers survived because of their burrows, and then helped to regenerate the area by their burrowing activities, breaking up hard crusts and mixing up the earth, like mini excavators, enabling plants to start growing again.
Burrowing creatures help the environment, without intending to. Their burrows support an ecosystems of other organisms either co –existing or taking over old borrows. Gopher Tortoise have 400 species who benefit from their burrows ; including mice, insects and snakes. Burrows aerate the soil and mix up the soil layers, like digging. Some organic matter is taken into borrows; worms taking in leaves, animals taking in food and bedding.
I like the way that humans are included in the story. Caves were the first homes for primitive people, some extending into the ground, not just for safety but for art/ritual. Thousands of years ago there were underground cities in Turkey, ideal for keeping enemies at bay. Modern cold war bunkers were built in case of nuclear attack. Before a visit to Montreal, I read a guide book that said the people there spent most of the time preparing for winter, living through it and recovering from it! The underground shopping malls would certainly have helped. I like the idea at the end of the book. With overpopulation, unstable regimes and the ever present threat of nuclear war; maybe we should not be building up into the sky, but burrowing down to ensure our survival.
-And if we do engineer the next extinction event by our indifference to the planet, then remember all that life beneath our feet - over one million ants per person, invertebrates making up the vast majority of biomass and biodiversity in any given ecosystem; and those small burrowing mammals – who will evolve to take over?
I liked the way the book broke down its content into small chunks, which could be easily read. There was a balance between writing style – chatty and informal as if the author was there beside you, engaging you with his first hand field excursion tales and knowledge; and the more detailed, in depth style ( as in the marine/ estuary trace fossils). I also liked the way lystrosaurus survival was told through the eyes one such creature, the survival seen first- hand through its eyes. I assume the book was aimed at younger people rather than older ‘experts’, with its reference to cultural material e.g the Simpsons episode where the world is taken over by ants, and an animal moving at the same rate as a texting teenager!
The research has been extensive – 85 pages of note references! It was also appreciated a section of genera and species mentioned in the book- useful for checking who was who.
The book is written by an American, so a lot of the research and animals mentioned are American based, which assumes some knowledge of the country, which thanks to travel and TV programmes, most people have. I am interested in birds so a couple of things I had problems relating to. In the UK swallows nest in barns or houses, not in burrows. Our burrowing ‘swallow’ is the sand martin. The size of a bee eater is compared to a wren or sparrow. Our wrens are under 4 inches long, USA ones are slightly bigger; sparrows seems comparable, about 5 inches long. Bee eaters are 11 inches long, comparable in size to a UK blackbird.
An excellent book, very thought provoking -well worth reading!
August 25, 2018
Interesting but really repetitive.
August 27, 2017
Anthony Martin wants you to know about burrowing. He is an ichnologist, which is a profession I didn't know existed before reading his book; it is a scientist who studies traces of organisms, such as tracks. If you are looking at a fossilized burrow, you are probably an ichnologist, or at least you are if you're actually seeing that fossilized burrow, because I'm pretty sure the rest of us would not see it for what it is.
This is one of those cases where it is difficult to see a thing in front of you if you do not know that such a thing exists, and yet once you know, it starts appearing everywhere you look. I had, of course, already been aware of the fact that burrowing exists, but I suppose I hadn't given the matter too much thought. It is Martin's mission in life (or at least while you're reading this book) to make certain that you think about it from now on. Burrowing, he attests, is responsible for a great deal of the way that life is, including the fact that it still exists at all.
It is Martin's assertion that burrowing animals are disproportionately found among the survivors of many (perhaps all but one) of the mass extinctions in Earth's history. One reasons our mammalian ancestors were able to survive the asteroid impact which led to the death of the non-avian dinosaurs, is that they were little furry folks who lived in burrows. As a more recent example, he discusses the pocket gophers who lived in the vicinity of Mt. St. Helens when it erupted. For the most part, they slept through the eruption, and upon awaking found that while food was a little bit harder to get, evading predators had gotten a whole lot easier. He thinks that kind of "sucks to be you" attitude of burrowers towards their strictly-above-ground rivals is nothing new.
Being below ground reduces the extremes of heat and cold. Being below ground can often help prevent drying out during droughts. Being below ground is definitely helpful in evading predators or anyone else who wants to kill you, as numerous human fortifications and (in Turkey) even whole underground cities attest to.
There are some pretty cool pictures in the book, including a cast of the underground nest of a colony of Florida harvester ants, which shows about twenty levels of chambers connected by a couple spiral staircases, er, tunnels. There are a fair number of pictures in the book, although they are unfortunately all collected together in a few sections of color glossy photographs, instead of spread throughout the book as they should be. Still, it's a minor quibble, and I found the text to be a thoroughly readable and enjoyable tour of a topic I barely knew anything about.
Facts I didn't know until I read this book:
- trilobites are long extinct, but horseshoe crabs, their closest living relatives, are so similar that if you look at images of both they are hard for a non-scientist like myself to tell apart.
- the giant ground sloth of South America, a creature the size of a grizzly bear, dug tunnels through rock
- there was a paleontologist Barbie (used in one picture of the fossilized trail of a soft-bodied anemone, for scale)
Of course, while burrowing is a handy survival trick, it guarantees nothing, as the fate of the giant ground sloth demonstrates. When the problem is a volcanic eruption or a giant asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth, burrowing may help you. If the problem is humans, well, they can follow you into your burrow and kill you there. So, the current mass extinction is probably not going to spare burrowing animals so well.
Nonetheless, and standard scientific doom and gloom aside, Martin's tour of the biology of the underground is entertaining as well as informative. Martin fortunately disregards the standard scientific formal, third-person narrative voice, for a lively and human one, with the occasional bad joke worthy of your nerdiest friend. I found it a good way to learn about a topic I didn't previously even know I wanted to learn about. We could use more scientists like him.
This is one of those cases where it is difficult to see a thing in front of you if you do not know that such a thing exists, and yet once you know, it starts appearing everywhere you look. I had, of course, already been aware of the fact that burrowing exists, but I suppose I hadn't given the matter too much thought. It is Martin's mission in life (or at least while you're reading this book) to make certain that you think about it from now on. Burrowing, he attests, is responsible for a great deal of the way that life is, including the fact that it still exists at all.
It is Martin's assertion that burrowing animals are disproportionately found among the survivors of many (perhaps all but one) of the mass extinctions in Earth's history. One reasons our mammalian ancestors were able to survive the asteroid impact which led to the death of the non-avian dinosaurs, is that they were little furry folks who lived in burrows. As a more recent example, he discusses the pocket gophers who lived in the vicinity of Mt. St. Helens when it erupted. For the most part, they slept through the eruption, and upon awaking found that while food was a little bit harder to get, evading predators had gotten a whole lot easier. He thinks that kind of "sucks to be you" attitude of burrowers towards their strictly-above-ground rivals is nothing new.
Being below ground reduces the extremes of heat and cold. Being below ground can often help prevent drying out during droughts. Being below ground is definitely helpful in evading predators or anyone else who wants to kill you, as numerous human fortifications and (in Turkey) even whole underground cities attest to.
There are some pretty cool pictures in the book, including a cast of the underground nest of a colony of Florida harvester ants, which shows about twenty levels of chambers connected by a couple spiral staircases, er, tunnels. There are a fair number of pictures in the book, although they are unfortunately all collected together in a few sections of color glossy photographs, instead of spread throughout the book as they should be. Still, it's a minor quibble, and I found the text to be a thoroughly readable and enjoyable tour of a topic I barely knew anything about.
Facts I didn't know until I read this book:
- trilobites are long extinct, but horseshoe crabs, their closest living relatives, are so similar that if you look at images of both they are hard for a non-scientist like myself to tell apart.
- the giant ground sloth of South America, a creature the size of a grizzly bear, dug tunnels through rock
- there was a paleontologist Barbie (used in one picture of the fossilized trail of a soft-bodied anemone, for scale)
Of course, while burrowing is a handy survival trick, it guarantees nothing, as the fate of the giant ground sloth demonstrates. When the problem is a volcanic eruption or a giant asteroid on a collision course with planet Earth, burrowing may help you. If the problem is humans, well, they can follow you into your burrow and kill you there. So, the current mass extinction is probably not going to spare burrowing animals so well.
Nonetheless, and standard scientific doom and gloom aside, Martin's tour of the biology of the underground is entertaining as well as informative. Martin fortunately disregards the standard scientific formal, third-person narrative voice, for a lively and human one, with the occasional bad joke worthy of your nerdiest friend. I found it a good way to learn about a topic I didn't previously even know I wanted to learn about. We could use more scientists like him.
December 6, 2017
Very detailed but interesting. Martin adds a new perspective to how one looks at evolution and extinction. In many cases, it seems, burrowing is the key!
December 4, 2018
An interesting and new insight on evolution.
March 14, 2018
A fascinating tour of burrows and burrowers throughout time. Don't be dismayed by all the talk of human excavations up front. That's mostly for context as the narrative soon moves on to more interesting animals both extinct and extant.
May 18, 2021
Borrow. Burrow ;)
You should read this because it is likely the most interesting and engaging account that you will be able to find on a subject (burrowing animals) you are unlikely to read about again.
The author is knowledgeable and fun (often too comedic for my tastes). I do wish that the book was structured a bit more solidly. It felt a little disorganised and haphazard. Nonetheless, I learned a lot and I am grateful for that.
You should read this because it is likely the most interesting and engaging account that you will be able to find on a subject (burrowing animals) you are unlikely to read about again.
The author is knowledgeable and fun (often too comedic for my tastes). I do wish that the book was structured a bit more solidly. It felt a little disorganised and haphazard. Nonetheless, I learned a lot and I am grateful for that.
March 4, 2017
Still reading but what a fascinating book. Makes you think, observe and then "oh". Easy to read, well described like you picture yourself in settings. Font size easy on eyes and just overall a great read. Definitely going to pay more attention to the ground on my next hike!
July 21, 2017
Not as good as I had hoped, but still full of surprising little science facts you can annoy your co-workers with.
June 29, 2020
Informative and interesting, but quirky to a fault. The puns and cliches could be quite painful.
May 30, 2018
In this book, ichnologist Anthony J. Martin takes a look at how burrowing animals have evolved and influenced the ecology of this planet. Martin starts off with alligators and gopher tortoises, ancient subterranean human settlements in Turkey and more modern underground Cold War bunkers, then travels through time to see what trace evidence and fossils prehistoric animals have left for burrowing behaviour - everything from the first worms, the first vertebrates and invertebrates, insects, dinosaurs, birds, penguins, giant ground sloths, crabs, shrimp, moles, gophers, earthworms and more.
Martin shows that burrowing animals are ecosystem engineers that alter their habitats through burrowing action. He provides a fascinating eye-opening account of earth altering underground activities that effect the flora and fauna that exist on the surface of the planet.
Martin also theorises that burrowing strategies of prehistoric and contemporary animals help in their survival during catastrophes and the survival of their species, and thus their evolutionary development, after the catastrophes. Afterall, burrows provide shelter and protection, a reduction in extreme temperature fluctuations, minimized dessication during droughts, safe places to procreate and raise young, and on occassion food storage facilities. Martin compares the survivors of major prehistoric catastrophes with the survivors of minor modern catastrophes, using examples like the pocket gophers that were hibernating during the eruption of Mt St. Helens. The sleeping pocket gophers awoke to found an ash and lava covered landscape with minimal food, but due to a shortage in predators and a full storage larder, the gophers survived, prospered and also helped with seed dispersal and soil movement.
Martin is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about his subject. This book adds a new perspective to evolution, extinction and ecosystem engineering. There are 85 pages of note references, a whole wad of colour photographs/ illustrations, and a list of genera and species mentioned in the book. The writing style manages to lively, fun, on the odd occasion amusing, and informative at the same time.
November 20, 2018
Well written science books that explore subjects with some rigor are rare, especially for an underground subject like ichnology. This book does both even though it is mostly text with very few illustrations.. It is a thoroughly delightful read. I believe I was the one who asked the ICPL to order this book and I sure hope I am not the only one who reads it. Evolution Underground is easy to read. In places it is witty, at least to scientist. And puts you right in the burrows or the discovery of burrows.
As a naturalist, I am interested in many aspects of nature, but never thought to much about burrows, besides I know a number of species use them and have seen the opening of a number. I did not know the extent to which burrows are used. I never realized that many organisms survived some pretty awful event by happening to be underground at the right time. The book sometimes tells it’s tale from the animal’s perspective, but only once does it give the animal a name. Reading the text, I did not know where the name came from and only later found out from the notes. I understand not burdening the text with the notes, but I wish there were symbols to call the readers attention to a note.
Read The Evolution Underground. If you are interested in nature, you will enjoy it.
As a naturalist, I am interested in many aspects of nature, but never thought to much about burrows, besides I know a number of species use them and have seen the opening of a number. I did not know the extent to which burrows are used. I never realized that many organisms survived some pretty awful event by happening to be underground at the right time. The book sometimes tells it’s tale from the animal’s perspective, but only once does it give the animal a name. Reading the text, I did not know where the name came from and only later found out from the notes. I understand not burdening the text with the notes, but I wish there were symbols to call the readers attention to a note.
Read The Evolution Underground. If you are interested in nature, you will enjoy it.
July 14, 2017
Thsi book is an entirely fascinating excavation of burrowing culture in myriad forms. The connections to burrowing sometimes seemed like Martin was digging a bit deep, and I confess I found the more recent chapters much more interesting just because my lover for multicellular organisms is a stronger tunnel than my love for unicellular organisms (sorry, that pun was a bit too dirty, right?) It seemed like Martin got more technical the further he went back into the buried recesses of (geologic) time. Burrows are clearly something which need as much care and attention as an item at a paleontology dig, and Martin is a delightful light in the cave. His enthusiasm for the subject could and does make dirt and dirt dwellers interesting. So I forgive The Evolution Underground for its inelegant transitions, becuase natural histor has many treasures to unearth (admit it, that was a good one.)
July 11, 2024
Fascinating! 4 1/2 stars.
I really enjoyed learning about the wide variety of animals that burrow/have burrowed. Locking two vocab words in the vault: peristalsis and estivation.
The only drawbacks were the repetitiveness of it. Guess how such-and-such animal survived this mass extinction? Yep, burrows! What about this one? Burrows! Burrows help burrowers hide from predators, take shelter from fires and other natural disasters, maintain a habitable temperature, mate and raise young, access the underground water table, etc. It's the same for almost all of them. So it's tiring when he re-explains why each burrower burrows. We got it.
But it is interesting!
Recommended for nascent ichnologists.
I really enjoyed learning about the wide variety of animals that burrow/have burrowed. Locking two vocab words in the vault: peristalsis and estivation.
The only drawbacks were the repetitiveness of it. Guess how such-and-such animal survived this mass extinction? Yep, burrows! What about this one? Burrows! Burrows help burrowers hide from predators, take shelter from fires and other natural disasters, maintain a habitable temperature, mate and raise young, access the underground water table, etc. It's the same for almost all of them. So it's tiring when he re-explains why each burrower burrows. We got it.
But it is interesting!
Recommended for nascent ichnologists.
July 17, 2018
Tiene el clásico problema de los libros de divulgación: mucho relleno innecesario para convertir en un libro lo que quizá partió como un artículo de revista. Pero de todos modos aprendí muchísimo y me entretuve con un tema que podría haber sido muy tedioso.
A su vez, para mi gusto lo mejor del libro para mi gusto fueron las descripciones del "día después" de las grandes extinciones masivas, y cómo reaccionaron las especies a los nuevos mundos que encontraron al salir de sus madrigueras. Fue tan informativo como entretenido y hasta por momento emotivo.
Punto extra por los chistes tan malos que llegan a ser buenos.
A su vez, para mi gusto lo mejor del libro para mi gusto fueron las descripciones del "día después" de las grandes extinciones masivas, y cómo reaccionaron las especies a los nuevos mundos que encontraron al salir de sus madrigueras. Fue tan informativo como entretenido y hasta por momento emotivo.
Punto extra por los chistes tan malos que llegan a ser buenos.
July 14, 2024
Wow! What an excellent book. I’m a biologist and read a decent amount of science nonfiction, picked this up years ago and finally got around to it. While I do have a biology background, so I’m familiar with geological timescales and general animal bio, my field is very different from paleo/ichnology so I greatly appreciate that this book was written in an easy-to-understand way - if you’re tired of dense&dry science writing or need a break from journal articles, look here for the opposite. Funny and lighthearted while also being super informative and flowing well from chapter to chapter. Going to make everyone read it and become a member of the burrow fanclub!
June 27, 2017
Part of my ongoing study of evolutionary biology, this book was very informative and brought me up to date on fossorial trace fossils and the ways in which animals survived apocalyptic extinctions by burrowing and hibernating. Many interesting species are profiled, including the pocket gopher, which weathered the Mt St Helens volcanic explosion by being deep underground when it happened.
December 8, 2025
A gem in the world of pop science books on evolution.
Martin takes you deep into the earth to explore evolution of life in an unexpected and often forgotten place. I read this book in my undergrad and it has stayed an strong front runner in the books that inspired my interest in ecology and evolutionary biology. May more pop science books read like this one!
Martin takes you deep into the earth to explore evolution of life in an unexpected and often forgotten place. I read this book in my undergrad and it has stayed an strong front runner in the books that inspired my interest in ecology and evolutionary biology. May more pop science books read like this one!
May 5, 2017
Incredibly informative and entertaining. Who knew a book about burrowing would not only teach me about the geologic history of our planet, but that portions of this engaging book would make me laugh so hard that I would snort!?
February 27, 2019
really enjoyed. It's funny because the author obviously really wants to talk about trace and fossil burrows, but knows to lure generalists he needs to talk about living animals. Demonstrates clearly the impact they have on the environment and provides some interest and humor along the way
July 27, 2020
The Evolution Underground is a joyful read that digs deep into the evolutionary history of burrowing animals. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2018...
January 20, 2019
Martin is entertaining and while I don't think this was quite as good as his first book, I still found it incredibly enlightening.
August 27, 2021
I loved this book! Besides giving a new perspective on evolution, the author's enthusiasm is infectious.
Currently reading
February 9, 202404/08/19
November 25, 2020
You gotta love an expert that loves what he does. Delightfully surprised at the amount of humor. Can safely say I now know more about burrowing animals than I ever anticipated knowing!
Read
May 11, 2018DNF p. 53
Just having a hard time finding the motivation to keep reading this :/ the author uses a very jokey style which sometimes works and sometimes falls flat. I think it's just not for me.
Just having a hard time finding the motivation to keep reading this :/ the author uses a very jokey style which sometimes works and sometimes falls flat. I think it's just not for me.
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