Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari [Hardcover]

Tim Haines (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Since the dinosaurs died out over 65 million years ago our planet has been dominated by mammals. A succession of bizarre evolutionary specimens have come and gone -- from walking whales to sabre-toothed cats -- yet many of these magnificent creatures have never been visualized before. Now, for the first time, spectacular and unfamiliar animals are recreated and set in the context of their world. Walking with Prehistoric Beasts reveals the extraordinary ancestors of modern mammals and the arrival of man, bringing to life the roots of our heritage. Following on from the hugely-acclaimed Walking with Dinosuars, Walking with Prehistoric Beasts recreates the creatures and landscapes of post-dinosaur Earth; transporting us to the icy plains of the mammoth, dark forests stalked by giant carnivorous birds, and deserts dominated by 16 ton Indricotheres. From the tiny fruit-eating primate Apidium, to the powerful chalicotheres, whose curved claws forced them to walk on their knuckles, the lives of these little known creatures are vividly brought to life. Meet the bizarre hose-nosed Macrauchenia, and the Deodicurus, a giant armadillo with a spiked club for a tail; run with cat-sized horses and rhino-sized carnivorous pigs, hunt with the skull-crushing Andrewsarchus, and walk with the very first humans. Illustrated boxes describe the latest scientific evidence that led to the reconsturctions of these creatures, while character boxes provide information on behavior and habitats. The text is illustrated throughout with ground-breaking computer graphic images to offer a unique record of lost worlds never seen before and reveal many of the most spectacular periods in Earth's history. Also available, accompanying the Walking with Prehistoric Beasts TV series, are books for children, home videos, a DVD, and a CD of the soundtrack from the series.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Beyond the woolly mammoth and the saber-toothed cat, most of us know very little about ancient mammals, many of which rivaled the dinosaurs in size. Haines, author of Walking with Dinosaurs (2000), gives an overview of these beasts in a companion volume to a Discovery Channel series. With a combination of natural history insights laid over the fossil record and computer graphics, extinct species like Smilodon (a saber-tooth), Indricotherium (enormous rhinoceros relatives), and even our ancestors Australopithecus come to life. Each chapter tells the story of one species, following specific individuals as they eat, mate, deal with the seasons, and interact with other species. Sidebars give paleontological data and a thumbnail sketch of each species mentioned. The chapters are in chronological order, so each presents a view of the age of mammals from a different period, culminating with woolly mammoths and Homo sapiens. The illustrations are spectacular, giving the feel of photographs of these extinct creatures. A section on source material provides the fossil underpinnings for the computer re-creations. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Tim Haines joined the Nature program at the BBC TV Natural History Unit in 1987 before moving to BBC TV Science. He has worked on many of the major BBC science series, and has produced a number of award-winning programs, including the Ice Mummy trilogy. He was the creator and Series Producer of Walking with Dinosaurs, and wrote the accompanying book. He is Executive Producer of Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. Daren Horley pursued a freelance career in traditional illustration before discovering the digital world. In 1997 he joined the compupter animation team at Framestore where he designed and painted the skins of the animals in Walking with Dinosuars. He is now Framstore's digital painting supervisor, working across a number of projects including Walking with Prehistoric Beasts.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: DK Publishing; 1st edition (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789478293
• ISBN-13: 978-0789478290
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 10.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #54 in Books > Children's Books > History > Prehistoric
  • #87 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Dinosaurs
  • #97 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Fossils

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than Walking With Dinosaurs, November 29, 2001

By 

Lee Murphy (Reseda, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari (Hardcover)

As a writer who specializes in novels about prehistoric life forms continuing to exist into the present, this book is an invaluable reference. For anybody interested in prehistoric life, this beautiful book presents artistic and extremely life-like images of the extinct fauna that came to populate the planet following the dinosaurs. So much so, that you will believe you are seeing them in the flesh.

I was especially pleased by the terror birds and the evolution of the prehistoric whales.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 stars for the illustrations, April 3, 2002

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari (Hardcover)

Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, like Walking with Dinosaurs, is a well illustrated written companion to a BBC documentary on fossil animals and their environment. In this case the age of early mammals is the subject of the discourse. As the author himself points out, before the discovery of dinosaurs, the remains of the early megafauna of the ice ages were the great attractions in 19th Century museums and exhibits. These were the dream-team animals that inspired little boys to go into careers hunting fossils throughout the world. The beautiful CGI of the book does more to bring these animals alive than any other collection of images that I've seen, and it makes one appreciate the advances that have been made in this type of characterization.

While I enjoyed the wildlife presented, as with Walking with Dinosaurs, it is not always made clear to the reader that only some things can be known absolutely about these now extinct animals. Much must be extrapolated from what is known of modern descendants and shear guesswork. Not everyone who reads the book will realize that, and I think that more of an effort should have been made to explain why the authorities on the subject believe what they do about the period. For one thing it would have provided a better learning experience and a greater appreciation for the inspired detective work done by paleontologists world wide.

Worth 4 stars for the illustrations alone!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than "Dinosaurs"; Tells of little-known mammals, December 28, 2001

By 

Scott Swindle (Iraq) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari (Hardcover)

I have always thought prehistoric mammals and birds got the shaft when compared to dinosaurs, but I have also thought they were every bit as fascinating. I never thought I would see these creatures brought to print and screen as they are portrayed in this book and the accompanying television program. If you were a fan of "Walking with Dinosaurs" (and you should be), you will enjoy this as well. I learned a great deal that I did not previously know, even though I consider myself fairly well-read on the subject. It is a story that has been crying out for years to be told: What happened AFTER the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago, in the intervening 64 million + years. The book starts out at 49 million years ago, after the earth had recovered from the asteriod KT event, and ends only a few thousand years ago.