fossil

2013 Winner of the Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize. Perhaps the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, the moa were a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the Moa’s biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of New Zealand’s strangest bird.

After examining and interpreting recent fossil discoveries in China, paleontologists now believe there is incontrovertible evidence that birds represent the last living dinosaur. In this book, evolutionary biologist Alan Feduccia discusses whether this conclusion is beyond dispute. He provides the most comprehensive discussion yet of the avian and associated evidence found in China, then exposes the massive, unfounded speculation that has accompanied these discoveries and been published in the pages of prestigious scientific journals. Feduccia believes that advocates of the current orthodoxy on bird origins have ignored contrary data, misinterpreted fossils, and used faulty reasoning. He considers why and how the debate has become so polemical and makes a plea to refocus the discussion by ‘breaking away from methodological straitjackets and viewing the world of origins anew’. Drawing on a lifetime of study, he offers his own current understanding of the origin of birds and avian flight. Also available in paperback [stock id 37107].

This book allows the reader to examine various eyewitness writings, drawings, paintings and skeletal remains, which depict the Dodo as it actually was, and helps us to understand how it was driven to extinction. It also traces what happened after the final demise of the bird, and how worldwide evidence was pieced together to provide a reasonable idea of how the Dodo lived and died.