Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America (Organisms and Environments)

271 Pages·2007·3.16 MB·English

by  Paul S. Martin

TWILIGHT
OF THE
MAMMOTHS
ORGANISMS AND ENVIRONMENTS
Harry W. Greene, Consulting Editor
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6. American Bison: A Natural History,by Dale F. Lott
7. A Bat Man in the Tropics: Chasing El Duende,by Theodore H. Fleming
8. Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of
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9. Biology of Gila Monsters and Beaded Lizards,byDaniel D. Beck
TWILIGHT
OF THE
MAMMOTHS
ICE AGE EXTINCTIONS
AND THE REWILDING
OF AMERICA
Paul S. Martin
Foreword by Harry W. Greene
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BERKELEY LOS ANGELES LONDON
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University of California Press
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University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2005 by The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, Paul S. (Paul Schultz), 1928–.
Twilight of the mammoths : ice age extinctions and
the rewilding of America / Paul S. Martin.
p. cm.— (Organisms and environments ; 8)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-520-23141-4 (acid-free paper)
1. Extinction (Biology) I. Title. II. Series.
qe721.2.e97m34 2005
560'.1792'097—dc22 2005005745
Manufactured in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication is both acid-free and
totally chlorine-free (tcf). It meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/nisoz39.48–1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
Dedicated to my wife,
Mary Kay O’Rourke

I listen to a concert in which so many parts are wanting....
I seek acquaintance with nature,—to know her moods and
manners. Primitive nature is the most interesting to me. I take
infinite pains to know all the phenomena of the spring, for
instance, thinking that I have here the entire poem, and then,
to my chagrin, I hear that it is but an imperfect copy that I
possess and have read, that my ancestors have torn out many
of the first leaves and grandest passages, and mutilated it in
many places.
Henry David Thoreau, The Journal of Henry David Thoreau

Contents
List of Illustrations xi
Foreword xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
Prologue 1
1 Discovering the Last Lost World 4
Radiocarbon Dating and Quaternary Extinctions 44
2 Overview of Overkill 48
3 Ground Sloth Dung and Packrat Middens 58
Giant Meat-Eating Bats? 75
4 Ground Sloths at Home 78
Cryptozoology,Ground Sloths,and Mapinguari National Park 98
5 Grand Canyon Suite: Mountain Goats, Condors, Equids,
and Mammoths 100
6 Deadly Syncopation 118
7 Digging for the First People in America: High Stakes
at Tule Springs 129
Tricks,Hoaxes,and Bad Science 145
8 Kill Sites, Sacred Sites 148