Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America

The picture at the book's cover gives the tone of the whole. A magnificent diorama of prehistoric life in North America as the last of the Ice Ages retreated, it bursts with an abundance of animals, many of them spectacular big mammals like mammoths, camels, saber-tooth cats or a giant ground sloth, who, as the author points out from the first paragraphs of the prologue, are no longer there. They are gone, extinct for ever.The book presents, with a clear and methodical way, the richness of North America Ice Age fauna, in order to drive home, in the most efficient way, the extent and drama of the extinction that followed roughly around 13.000-11.000 years ago, leaving the continent with a much impoverished ecology, which was further undermined or, in some places, utterly destroyed after the arrival of European settlers.Using data from all around the world - North and South America, Australia, Africa, the Pacific Islands - Mr. Martin slowly and mercilessly builds his case for the repeated phenomenon of sudden and disastrous, from the geological point of view, collapse of prehistorical wild ecosystems. Many complex and rich environments were swiftly and irrevocably depleted from the big or medium-sized mammals who held them together, as those were quickly driven to extinction after the introduction of a single species: Homo Sapiens.It really seems preposterous that a mere handful of humans could inflict such damage in a comparatively very short time. And the author is the first to point out the poverty of positive archaeological evidence for this "overkill" scenario. At the same time he examines the alternative solutions, mainly climatic change, and finds a lot of negative evidence for them. And all that in a clear and precise writing style, accessible to anyone with a minimum background in paleontology and natural history.Whether you agree or not with Mr. Martin's arguments, regarding prehistoric species extinctions, you have to appreciate both his passion for the subject and the cool-headed scientific way he approaches it. And then embrace his suggestions for the introduction of "replacement" species (for those extinct) to North American ecosystems. To propose the presence of African elephants in the semi-desert savannah-like environments of the USA, in order to restore the mammoth-based ecology of the region, may seem romantically far-fetched, even a little crazy. But our world has a dire need of romantic lunatics in the field of ecology, particularly if they base their dreams on such solid scientific grounds.

Mammoths are not the only megafauna discussed in this remarkable book. We also learn about the giant bison, the giant beaver, the short-faced bear and the giant sloth. The author has spent a life such as many of us can only admire and envy, recovering information from caves in the Grand Canyon and many other fascinating places. He has also spent many years resolutely defending his theory about the fast extinction of the American megafauna at the beginning of our present interglacial (global warming!) period. Considering but rejecting the competing theories of "overchill" (sudden onset of renewed cold conditions) and "over-ill" (disease), Martin defends "overkill" - i.e. the belief that the Palaeo-Indians over-hunted the megafauna to extinction. Native American writers like Vine Deloria (e.g in "Red Earth, White Lies") have objected strongly to the overkill theory but Martin musters powerful arguments, insisting also that he not denigrating contemporary Indians or their ancestors. The final chapters, in which Martin looks beyond conservation to restoration - e.g. the introduction of African elephants to the Great Plains as replacements for the lost mammoths - seem more fanciful but one has to admire the man's imagination. A very highly recommended book,

A good read, but not an easy one. More structuring in sub-chapters would help a layperson reader, as would bolding some keywords, or putting them in italics. The author sometimes switches from the Americas to Australia to New Zealand, without so much as making the new landmass a new paragraph.All through I wished for more pictures (of bones, excavation sites, sloth dung, the still existing plants those animals ate, Grand Canyon panorama, whatever), and possibly some illustrations of what the extinct animals and their environment may have looked like. As the author's express goal is to draw more public interest to ground sloths, mastodonts etc, I feel some really good drawings could help a lot with that.

I cant rate it properly as it was bought as a present but be assured it would never have been requested if it wasn't any good.

Great book