Twilight of the Mammoths

A very well-reasoned and exhaustive (to a layman such as I am) treatment on the mass extinctions of most of the large (> 100 kg) animals (mammoths, mastodons, camelids, bovids, carnivores, etc.) in the recent past. While covering the world-wide events, Martin focuses on North America in particular, where the effects are most visible. Arguing for anthropogenic (human-originated) causes instead of climate-change as the primary reason for the rapid faunal turnover, the author draws from multiple studies and disciplines as well as numerous fossil sites from around the world in making his case. Also of interest, the topics of “rewilding” and “fauna recovery” are covered in some detail, with some surprising insights and proposals, including extending the time of faunal look-back for the rewilding effort beyond the Holocene and into the Quaternary.