Origin Africa A natural history

Written by an authority on African mammals with decades of field experience tracing the interwoven networks of Africa's geologic structures and biospheres, this colorful volume thoughtfully contextualizes the emergence of the human species within the continent's complex natural history. The lavish illustrations, which include color and black-and-white drawings, photographs, and maps (many of them produced by the author), deftly augment the narrative. Beginning with the separation of Africa from the supercontinent of Pangaea, Kingdon (Univ. of Oxford, UK) explores a wide range of factors involved in the survival and evolution of African species, including meteor impacts, climate change, plants as habitat creators, migration, succession, and morphological adaptation. He then reviews the lineage of primates from the initial movements of populations into and out of Africa to the adaptive behaviors of chimpanzees and apes and the demonstrated hominin fossil records of Ethiopia and South Africa. Of particular interest are the concept of humans as competitive thieves of ecological niches and a discussion of the emergence of primal technologies such as string, tools, and means of transporting foraging finds. A critical addition for collections supporting degree programs in anthropology, biology, and zoology. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Robert B. Ridinger, Northern Illinois University