Dinosaurs of the Air

The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds
Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-0-8018-6763-7
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 472 Seiten, Format (B × H): 235 mm x 287 mm, Gewicht: 1601 g

Voted Best Book of 2002 by Readers of Prehistoric Times Magazine

Dinosaurs of the Air: The Evolution and Loss of Flight in Dinosaurs and Birds presents the most recent work of renowned evolutionary scientist and dinosaur illustrator Gregory Paul. Dinosaurs of the Air synthesizes the growing body of evidence which suggests that modern-day birds have evolved from theropod dinosaurs of prehistoric times. Paul argues provocatively for the idea that the ancestor-descendant relationship between the dinosaurs and birds can on occasion be reversed, and that many dinosaurs were secondarily flightless descendants of creatures we would regard as birds.

Controversial and comprehensive, Dinosaurs of the Air also offers new, firsthand interpretations of major fossils; a balanced, rewarding discussion of the ways we think flight may have evolved (comparing "ground up" and "trees down" scenarios); a close look at the famous urvogel Archaeopteryx, discussing what it can and cannot tell us about bird origins; and in-depth analyses of bird and theropod phylogenetics. Full of rich detail for the specialist but accessible to the intelligent lay reader, the book includes the author's own stunning illustrations and a technical appendix which provides information, for example, on body mass/wing dimension relationships and avian/dinosaurian metabolics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Paul, Gregory S

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Wirbeltiere (Vertebrata) Vögel (Ornithologie)
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Geowissenschaften Geologie Paläontologie, Taphonomie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften, Biologie: Sachbuch, Naturführer

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Part I: Getting Started
Chapter 1: A History
Chapter 2: The Science of Bird Origins
Part II: Skeletons, Bones and Other Remains of the Mesozoic
Chapter 3: Skulls
Chapter 4: Skeletons
Chapter 5: Feathers and Other Fluff
Part III: Flight: How and Why it Evolves, Why it is Lost, and How to Tell When
Chapter 6: The Beginnings of Flight: From the Ground Up, or the Trees Down?
Chapter 7: The Early Evolution of Flight
Chapter 8: The Loss of Flight
Part IV: The Archaeopteryx problem
Chapter 9: Lifestyle for the Urvogel
Part V: Who Is Related to Whom, and Why?
Chapter 10: Looking for the True Bird Ancestor
Chapter 11: Were Some Dinosaurs Neoflightless Birds?
Chapter 12: A Look at the Phylogenetics of Predatory Dinosaurs
Part VI: A Modest Scenario
Chapter 13: The Mesozoic
Chapter 14: The Great Extinction
Chapter 15: The Cenozoic
Appendix
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Paul, Gregory S
Gregory S. Paul is a freelance scientist and scientific illustrator specializing in dinosaur evolution. Illustrations from his book Predatory Dinosaurs of the World, along with specific skeletal studies of theropods he was commissioned to prepare, were used in the making of the Jurassic Park movies.