Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh [Hardcover]

Michael Archer (Author), Suzanne Hand (Author), Henk Godthelp (Author)

Book Description

Series: Life of the Past | Publication Date: March 1, 2001

In Queensland, in northeast Australia, lies one of the most significant fossil deposits in the world—Riversleigh. Here, the remains of many thousands of weird and wonderful prehistoric animals have been superbly preserved in the limestone outcrops. There are marsupial lions, carnivorous kangaroos, 23-foot long pythons, primitive platypuses, and early ancestors of the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. So important is this site to our understanding of what has happened to Australia and its living cargo over the last 25 million years that Riversleigh has been inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Michael Archer, Suzanne J. Hand, and Henk Godthelp, the principal scientists on a remarkable excavation since 1976, explain the vast environmental and geographic changes that have occurred in this area since Australia broke away from the supercontinent of Gondwana, and how the animals on board this continental raft evolved through the ages. Photographs and evocative artwork bring to life the teeming tropical world that once existed in the now arid wastes of Riversleigh, and the authors discuss some of the unusual techniques used on a dig. They describe how to recognize fossils, how to date them, and how to reconstruct extinct animals from them. Originally published as Riversleigh: The Story of Animals in Ancient Rainforests of Inland Australia, this award-winning book is being issued for the first time in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Archer, Hand, and Godthelp (all, Univ. of New South Wales) offer a beautifully written and magnificently illustrated description of the literally hundreds of different fossil vertebrate species unearthed in Riversleigh, a rather isolated station 200 kilometers northwest of Mt. Isa, Queensland, Australia. This highly readable volume covers the period from the end of the 1970s to the early 1990s. The fossil python Montypythonoides riversleighensis (seven meters long); Bum on a Bug (tail assembly of a larval insect); Crusty Meat Pie Site (an accumulation of fossil turtles); Thingodonta, a marsupial mammal; and the Camel Sputum limestone are some of the topics covered. Strong emphasis is given to the fieldwork involved in this excavation that covers roughly the last 25 million years. The three authors are professional paleontologists, but their style of writing is such that even readers with a minimal scientific background will find this a fascinating volume. More than a dozen two-page color illustrations recreate the environment in which organisms lived and features up to 24 taxa. Ecologists working as co-investigators recognize that the fossils of Riversleigh established the trends in Australian ecosystems as the so-called greenhouse conditions began to develop. The Riversleigh fossil record is one of the world's greatest refuse piles. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through professionals." —G. Nicholas, Manhattan College, Choice, July 2001

(G. Nicholas, Manhattan College Choice 2001)

About the Author

Professor Michael Archer is currently Director of the Australian Museum in Sydney as well as a Professor in the School of Biological Science at the University of New South Wales. Dr. Suzanne Hand is a Research Scientist in
the School of Biological Science at the University of New South Wales and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum. Henk Godthelp is the Manager of the Vertebrate Palaeontology laboratories at the University of New South Wales and a Research Associate of the Australian Museum.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253339146
• ISBN-13: 978-0253339140
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,140,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Geology > Physical

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Downunder' fossil extravaganza., October 24, 2001

By 

Roger McEvilly (the guilty bystander) (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Australia's Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh (Hardcover)

Riversleigh is a major World Heritage listed fossil site, primarily discovered in the late 1970s in Queensland, Australia. Since the first discoveries an abundance of prehistoric Australian fauna dating from 25 million years ago to the present has been recovered, preserved in limestone sediments and ancient caves, which testify to a formerly lush rainforest climate prevalent as Australia drifted north from Antarctica. It is unfortunate that most of Australia's present day, rather unique animals are in fact, just a remnant of what once was, when formerly higher rainfall spanned much of the continent. Many lineages and individual species, represented by the abundance recovered at Riversleigh, are now extinct and forgotten, except of course by a few enthusiastic palaeontologists, as described in this book. Readers will be surprised and delighted at the peculiar forms and fantastic colour illustrations and reconstructions presented in this book, and what things can be learnt of their extinction over time, as Australia drifted north.

Exquisitely illustrated, with on-site field notes and diagrams should keep the enthusiastic amateur fossil hunter entertained. An abundance of technical notes, photographs of real specimens and colour reconstructions, many of which uphold Australia's reputation for the unusual and/or the alternative, in terms of evolutionary development. Evolutionary experiments abound with examples which include 'thingadonta' (nobody really knows what it is), several species of marsupial lion, Tasmanian 'wolf' (thylacine) ancestors, flesh-eating kangaroos, several failed lines of kangaroos, several platypus ancestors, giant marsupials such as Diprotodon-the world's largest, a giant wombat, koala ancestors, numerous bats, possums, and creepy critters of all types, are presented. No primates unfortunately, and no bears or dogs, but it is interesting how some of these vacant evolutionary niches were filled by marsupial alternatives-especially in the case of the 'Tasmanian wolf', and the carnivorous marsupial 'lion'. And it is interesting to speculate what kind of alternative type of 'marsupial primate' may have (could still!) have arisen. An upright 'hominid'-like marsupial, wandering the Australian plains-who knows if Australian rainforests hadn't have all but disappeared.

The book puts the various animals and lineages into perspective, describing the changes of climate and habitat loss over the last 25 million years as Australia's climate became drier as the continent drifted north. Many lineages were/are in slow decline before the arrival of the aborigines and Europeans, as Australia's rainforests progressively shrank.

The colour illustrations and landscape reconstructions are a major feature, and they are outstanding. This book is highly recommended for the enthusiastic fossil hunter, or for those just curious in Australian animals and palaeontology in general.