Volume 1 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN ANTIQUITY Edited by Linda Kalof Introduction: Ancient Animals, Linda Kalof, Michigan State University 1. Animals: From Souls and the Sacred in Prehistoric Times to Symbols and Slaves in Antiquity, Jim Mason, Independent Scholar, USA 2. Hunting in the Ancient Mediterranean World, J. Donald Hughes, University of Denver 3. How Domestic Animals Have Shaped the Development of Human Societies, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Independent Scholar, UK 4. Beastly Spectacles in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Jo-Ann Shelton, University of California at Santa Barbara 5. The Observation and Use of Animals in the Development of Scientific Thought in the Ancient World, Andrew Gordon, Independent Scholar, USA 6. Animals in Ancient Philosophy: Conceptions and Misconceptions, Stephen T. Newmyer, Duquesne University 7. Animals into Art in the Ancient World, Christine Morris, Trinity College, Dublin Volume 2 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN THE MEDIEVAL AGE Edited by Brigitte Resl Introduction: Animals in the Middle Ages, Brigitte Resl, Goldsmiths College, London 1. Animals in Medieval Folklore and Religion, Sophie Page, University College London 2. Medieval Hunting, An Smets, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Baudouin van den Abeele, Université Catholique de Louvain 3. Domestication, Esther Pascua, University of St. Andrews 4. Animals in Medieval Sports, Entertainments, and Menageries, Lisa Kiser, Ohio State University 5. Animals in Medieval Science, Pieter Beullens, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 6. Philosophical Beliefs, Pieter De Leemans, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Matthew Klemm, John Hopkins University 7. Animals in Art in the Middle Ages, Brigitte Resl, Goldsmiths College, London Volume 3 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN THE RENAISSANCE Edited by Bruce Boehrer Introduction: The Animal Renaissance, Bruce Boehrer, Florida State University 1. A 'Foule Fowle': The Marginalised Cormorant in the Renaissance, Kevin De Ornellas, Queen's University, Belfast 2. Hunting Rites and Animals Rights in the Renaissance, Charles Bergman, Pacific Lutheran University 3. Domesticated Animals in Renaissance Europe, Peter Edwards, Roehampton University 4. Entertaining Animals 1558-1625, Teresa Grant, University of Warwick 5. The Relation Between Discourse and Illustrations in Natural History Treatises of the Mid-Sixteenth Century, Philippe Glardon, Institut Universitaire d'Histoire de la Medecine at Lausanne 6. Philosophers and Animals in the Renaissance, Stefano Perfetti, University of Pisa 7. Meticulous Depiction: Animals in Art, 1400-1600, Victoria Dickenson, McCord Museum, McGill University Volume 4 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Edited by Matthew Senior Introduction: The Place of the Animal, 1600-1800, Matthew Senior, University of Minnesota, Morris 1. The Souls of Men and Beasts, 1637-1764, Matthew Senior, University of Minnesota, Morris 2. Hunting and the Ancien Régime, Philippe Salvadori, Université de Bourgogne 3. Strange Familiars: The Two Faces of Animal Domestication, Karen Raber, University of Mississippi 4. Inside and Outside: Animal Activity and the Red Bull Playhouse, St. John Street, Eva Griffith, University of Durham 5. Natural History, Natural Philosophy, and Animals, Anita Guerrini, University of California, Santa Barbara 6. The Animal Enlightenment, Jean-Luc Guichet, Collège de Philosophie, Paris 7. The Animal in 17th and 18th-Century Art, Madeleine Pinault-Sorensen, Musée du Louvre Volume 5 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN THE AGE OF EMPIRE Edited by Kathleen Kete Introduction: Animals and Human Empire, Kathleen Kete, Trinity College, Hartford 1. The Moment of Greyfriars Bobby: The Changing Cultural Position of Animals in Europe, Hilda Kean, Ruskin College, Oxford 2. Hunting Empires in Britain and the United States, Daniel Herman, Central Washington University 3. Domestication of Empire: Human-Animal Relations at the Intersection of Civilization and Acclimatization in the Nineteenth Century, Dorothee Brantz, Department of History, SUNY Buffalo 4. How the Caged Bird Sings: Entertainment and the Exhibition of Animals, Nigel Rothfels, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 5. From Birds of Paradise to Drosophila: The Changing Roles of Scientific Specimens in Europe and America to 1920, Narisara Murray, Independent Scholar, Cambodia 6. Philosophy and Animals in the Age of Empire, Mark Rowlands, Department of Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire 7. Narrative Dominion or The Animals Write Back? Animal Genres in Literature and the Arts, Teresa Mangum, Department of English, University of Iowa Volume 6 A CULTURAL HISTORY OF ANIMALS IN THE MODERN AGE Edited by Randy Malamud Introduction: Famous Animals in Modern Culture, Randy Malamud, Georgia State University 1. The Golden Spider and Her World-Wide Web: Sacred and Symbolic Animals in the Era of Change, Boria Sax, Mercy College 2. Hunting in the Modern Age, Garry Marvin, Roehampton University 3. The Present and Future of Animal Domestication, Margo DeMello, Albuquerque TVI College, New Mexico 4. Zoo Animals as Entertainment Exhibitions, David Hancocks, Royal Institute of British Architects,, Australia 5. Scientific Animals: The Laboratory and its Human-Animal Relations, from Dba to Dolly, Karen Rader, Sarah Lawrence College 6. Animal Philosophy: Ethics and Zoontology, Ralph Acampora, Hofstra University 7. Animals in Twentieth Century Art, Jonathan Burt, Independent Scholar, UK
Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2008 HARDBACK SET A Cultural History of Animals is a multi-volume project on the history of human-animal relations from ancient times to the present. The set of six volumes covers 4500 years of human-animal interaction. Volume 1: Antiquity to the Dark Ages (2500BC - 1000AD) Volume 2: The Medieval Age (1000-1400) Volume 3: The Renaissance (1400-1600) Volume 4: The Enlightenment (1600-1800) Volume 5: The Age of Empire (1800-1920) Volume 6: The Modern Age (1920-2000, including a discussion of animals of the future) As the same issues are central to animal-human relations throughout history, each volume shares the same structure, with chapters in each volume analysing the same issues and themes. In this way each volume can be read individually to cover a specific period and individual chapters can be read across volumes to follow a theme across history. Each volume explores: the sacred and the symbolic (totem, sacrifice, status and popular beliefs), hunting; domestication (taming, breeding, labor and companionship); entertainment and exhibitions (the menagerie, zoos, circuses and carnivals); science and specimens (research, education, collections and museums); philosophical beliefs; and artistic representations. The full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on animals through history. INDIVIDUAL VOLUMES AVAILABLE
Chambers, P. (2002) Bones of Contention: the fossil that shook science; John Murray, London
Cowen, R. (1995) History of Life (2nd edition); Blackwell Scientific Publications
Gould, Stephen Jay ( 1983) Hen's teeth and Horses' toes
Strickberger, Monroe B. (2000) "Evolution" (3rd edition), published by Jones & Bartlett
At the beginning of the Palaeocene epoch (65 - 55.5 million years ago) the world was without larger-sized terrestrial animals. This unique situation was the starting point for the great evolutionary diversification of the mammals, which up until then had been nocturnal animals the size of small rodents. By the end of the epoch, mammals occupied many of the vacant ecological niches. While mammal fossils from this period of time are scarce, and often consist largely of their characteristic teeth, we know that small, rodent-like insectivorous mammals roamed the forests, the first large herbivorous mammals were browsing on the abundant vegetation, and carnivorous mammals were stalking their prey.
The oldest confirmed primate fossils date to about 60 million years ago, in the mid-Palaeocene. The early primates evolved from archaic nocturnal insectivores, something like shrews, and resembled lemurs or tarsiers (the prosimians). They were probably arboreal, living in tropical or subtropical forests. Many of their characteristic features are well suited for this habitat: hands specialised for grasping, rotating shoulder joints, and stereoscopic vision. They also have a relatively large brain size and nails on their digits, instead of claws.
The earliest known fossils of most of the modern orders of mammals appear in a brief period during the early Eocene (55.5 - 33.7 million years ago). Both groups of modern hoofed animals, the Artiodactyla ("even-toed" taxa such as cows and pigs) and Perrisodactyla ("odd-toed" taxa, including the horses), became widespread throughout North America and Europe. The evolutionary history of the horses is particularly well understood: Stephen Jay Gould (1983) provides an excellent discussion of it in his book "Hens' teeth and horses' toes".
At the same time as the mammals were diversifying on land, they were also returning to the sea. The evolutionary transitions that led to the whales have been closely studied in recent years, with extensive fossil finds from India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. These fossils chronicle the change from the land-dwelling mesonychids, which are the likely ancestors of whales, through animals such as Ambulocetus , which was still a tetrapod but which also has such whale-like features as an ear capsule isolated from the rest of its skull, to the primitive whales called the Archaeocetes.
The trend towards a cooler global climate that occurred during the Oligocene epoch (33.7 - 23.8 million years ago) saw the appearance of the grasses, which were to extend into vast grasslands during the subsequent Miocene (23.8 - 5.3 million years ago). This change in vegetation drove the evolution of browsing animals, such as more modern horses, with teeth that could deal with the high silica content of the grasses. The cooling climate trend also affected the oceans, with a decline in the number of marine plankton and invertebrates.
While DNA evidence suggests that the great apes evolved during the Oligocene, abundant fossils do not appear until the Miocene. Hominids, on the evolutionary line leading to humans, first appear in the fossil record in the Pliocene (5.3 - 1.8 million years ago). The story of human evolution is covered here - Human Evolution material.
New Zealand, by virtue of its isolation and its relatively recent geological development, was not the centre of any novel evolutionary development. However, many of the species that date back to Gondwanaland, or that arrived more recently as migrants, have undergone significant adaptive radiation in their new homeland. Some of the best examples of this can be related to the major ecological changes that accompanied the Pleistocene Ice Ages.
Throughout the Pleistocene there were about twenty cycles of cold glacial ("Ice Age") and warm interglacial periods at intervals of about 100,000 years. During the Ice Ages glaciers dominated the landscape, snow and ice extended into the lowlands, transporting huge quantities of rock with them. During these periods the South Island was extensively glaciated, and there were small glaciers on the Tararua Ranges and Central Plateau. Because a lot of water was locked up in ice, the sea levels dropped during the glacials (up to 135m lower than at present). Extensive land bridges joined the main and many offshore islands, allowing the migration of plants and animals. During the warmer periods large areas became submerged again under water. These repeated episodes of environmental fragmentation drove rapid adaptive radiation in many NZ species, especially (but not exclusively) the alpine plants.
For example, speciation patterns in the native Placostylus flax snails of Northland can be related to changes in sea level. Originally 2-3 species were widespread at a time of low sea levels. Rising seas at the end of the glacial period isolated these as populations on offshore islands, where differential natural selection pressures led to the evolution of a greater number of separate species.
The distribution of land snails such as Powelliphanta in Marlborough and the southern North Island also offers evidence for the presence of land bridges and the possibility of future speciation. The same varieties are found both north and south of Cook Strait, implying a continuous land bridge in the past as the animals die in salt water. The fact that no further speciation has occurred in this case suggests that the land bridge was recently submerged by rising seas, perhaps only 10,000 years ago.
New Zealand Example
For more information on NZ examples of evolution, click here.
The oldest confirmed primate fossils date to about 60 million years ago, in the mid-Palaeocene. The early primates evolved from archaic nocturnal insectivores, something like shrews, and resembled lemurs or tarsiers (the prosimians). They were probably arboreal, living in tropical or subtropical forests. Many of their characteristic features are well suited for this habitat: hands specialised for grasping, rotating shoulder joints, and stereoscopic vision. They also have a relatively large brain size and nails on their digits, instead of claws.
The earliest known fossils of most of the modern orders of mammals appear in a brief period during the early Eocene (55.5 - 33.7 million years ago). Both groups of modern hoofed animals, the Artiodactyla ("even-toed" taxa such as cows and pigs) and Perrisodactyla ("odd-toed" taxa, including the horses), became widespread throughout North America and Europe. The evolutionary history of the horses is particularly well understood: Stephen Jay Gould (1983) provides an excellent discussion of it in his book "Hens' teeth and horses' toes".
At the same time as the mammals were diversifying on land, they were also returning to the sea. The evolutionary transitions that led to the whales have been closely studied in recent years, with extensive fossil finds from India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. These fossils chronicle the change from the land-dwelling mesonychids, which are the likely ancestors of whales, through animals such as Ambulocetus , which was still a tetrapod but which also has such whale-like features as an ear capsule isolated from the rest of its skull, to the primitive whales called the Archaeocetes.
The trend towards a cooler global climate that occurred during the Oligocene epoch (33.7 - 23.8 million years ago) saw the appearance of the grasses, which were to extend into vast grasslands during the subsequent Miocene (23.8 - 5.3 million years ago). This change in vegetation drove the evolution of browsing animals, such as more modern horses, with teeth that could deal with the high silica content of the grasses. The cooling climate trend also affected the oceans, with a decline in the number of marine plankton and invertebrates.
While DNA evidence suggests that the great apes evolved during the Oligocene, abundant fossils do not appear until the Miocene. Hominids, on the evolutionary line leading to humans, first appear in the fossil record in the Pliocene (5.3 - 1.8 million years ago). The story of human evolution is covered here - Human Evolution material.
New Zealand, by virtue of its isolation and its relatively recent geological development, was not the centre of any novel evolutionary development. However, many of the species that date back to Gondwanaland, or that arrived more recently as migrants, have undergone significant adaptive radiation in their new homeland. Some of the best examples of this can be related to the major ecological changes that accompanied the Pleistocene Ice Ages.
Throughout the Pleistocene there were about twenty cycles of cold glacial ("Ice Age") and warm interglacial periods at intervals of about 100,000 years. During the Ice Ages glaciers dominated the landscape, snow and ice extended into the lowlands, transporting huge quantities of rock with them. During these periods the South Island was extensively glaciated, and there were small glaciers on the Tararua Ranges and Central Plateau. Because a lot of water was locked up in ice, the sea levels dropped during the glacials (up to 135m lower than at present). Extensive land bridges joined the main and many offshore islands, allowing the migration of plants and animals. During the warmer periods large areas became submerged again under water. These repeated episodes of environmental fragmentation drove rapid adaptive radiation in many NZ species, especially (but not exclusively) the alpine plants.
For example, speciation patterns in the native Placostylus flax snails of Northland can be related to changes in sea level. Originally 2-3 species were widespread at a time of low sea levels. Rising seas at the end of the glacial period isolated these as populations on offshore islands, where differential natural selection pressures led to the evolution of a greater number of separate species.
The distribution of land snails such as Powelliphanta in Marlborough and the southern North Island also offers evidence for the presence of land bridges and the possibility of future speciation. The same varieties are found both north and south of Cook Strait, implying a continuous land bridge in the past as the animals die in salt water. The fact that no further speciation has occurred in this case suggests that the land bridge was recently submerged by rising seas, perhaps only 10,000 years ago.
New Zealand Example
For more information on NZ examples of evolution, click here.
Dinosaurs spread throughout the world - including New Zealand, which had its own dinosaur fauna - during the Jurassic, but during the subsequent Cretaceous period (145 - 65 million years ago) they were declining in species diversity. In fact, many of the typically Mesozoic organisms - such as ammonites, belemnites, gymnosperms, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and pterosaurs - were in decline at this time, despite the fact that they were still giving rise to new species.
The origin of flowering plants (the angiosperms) during the early Cretaceous triggered a major adaptive radiation among the insects: new groups, such as butterflies, moths, ants and bees arose and flourished. These insects drank the nectar from the flowers and acted as pollinating agents in the process.
The mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, wiped out the dinosaurs along with every other land animal that weighed much more than 25 kg. This cleared the way for the expansion of the mammals on land. In the sea at this time, the fish again became the dominant vertebrate taxon.
The origin of flowering plants (the angiosperms) during the early Cretaceous triggered a major adaptive radiation among the insects: new groups, such as butterflies, moths, ants and bees arose and flourished. These insects drank the nectar from the flowers and acted as pollinating agents in the process.
The mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, wiped out the dinosaurs along with every other land animal that weighed much more than 25 kg. This cleared the way for the expansion of the mammals on land. In the sea at this time, the fish again became the dominant vertebrate taxon.
In 1861 an intriguing fossil was found in the Jurassic Solnhofen Limestone of southern Germany, a source of rare but exceptionally well-preserved fossils. Given the name Archeopteryx lithographica the fossil appeared to combine features of both birds and reptiles: a reptilian skeleton, accompanied by the clear impression of feathers. This made the find highly significant as it had the potential to support the Darwinians in the debate that was raging following the 1859 publication of "On the origin of species".
While it was originally described as simply a feathered reptile, Archaeopteryx has long been regarded as a transitional form between birds and reptiles, making it one of the most important fossils ever discovered. Until relatively recently it was also the earliest known bird. Lately, scientists have realised that Archaeopteryx bears even more resemblance to the Maniraptora, a group of dinosaurs that includes the infamous velociraptors of "Jurassic Park", than to modern birds. Thus the Archaeopteryx provides a strong phylogenetic link between the two groups. Fossil birds have been discovered in China that are even older than Archaeopteryx, and other discoveries of feathered dinosaurs support the theory that theropods evolved feathers for insulation and thermo-regulation before birds used them for flight. This is an example of an exaptation.
Closer examination of the early history of birds provides a good example of the concept that evolution is neither linear nor progressive. The bird lineage is messy, with a variety of “experimental” forms appearing. Not all achieved powered flight, and some looked quite unlike modern birds e.g. Microraptor gui, which appears to have been a gliding animal and had asymmetric flight feathers on all four limbs, while its skeleton is essentially that of a small dromaeosaur. Archaeopteryx itself did not belong to the lineage from which modern birds (Neornithes) have evolved, but was a member of the now-extinct Enantiornithes. A reconstruction of the avian family tree would show a many-branched bush, not a single straight trunk.
While it was originally described as simply a feathered reptile, Archaeopteryx has long been regarded as a transitional form between birds and reptiles, making it one of the most important fossils ever discovered. Until relatively recently it was also the earliest known bird. Lately, scientists have realised that Archaeopteryx bears even more resemblance to the Maniraptora, a group of dinosaurs that includes the infamous velociraptors of "Jurassic Park", than to modern birds. Thus the Archaeopteryx provides a strong phylogenetic link between the two groups. Fossil birds have been discovered in China that are even older than Archaeopteryx, and other discoveries of feathered dinosaurs support the theory that theropods evolved feathers for insulation and thermo-regulation before birds used them for flight. This is an example of an exaptation.
Closer examination of the early history of birds provides a good example of the concept that evolution is neither linear nor progressive. The bird lineage is messy, with a variety of “experimental” forms appearing. Not all achieved powered flight, and some looked quite unlike modern birds e.g. Microraptor gui, which appears to have been a gliding animal and had asymmetric flight feathers on all four limbs, while its skeleton is essentially that of a small dromaeosaur. Archaeopteryx itself did not belong to the lineage from which modern birds (Neornithes) have evolved, but was a member of the now-extinct Enantiornithes. A reconstruction of the avian family tree would show a many-branched bush, not a single straight trunk.
Mammals are advanced synapsids. Synapsida is one of two great branches of the amniote family tree. Amniotes are the group of animals that produce an amniotic egg i.e. the reptiles, birds, and mammals. The other major amniote group, the Diapsida, includes the birds and all living and extinct reptiles other than the turtles and tortoises. Turtles and tortoises belong in a third group of amniotes, the Anapsida. Members of these groups are classified on the basis of the number of openings in the temporal region of the skull.
Synapsids are characterised by having a pair of extra openings in the skull behind the eyes. This opening gave the synapsids (and similarly the diapsids, which have two pairs of openings) stronger jaw muscles and better biting ability than earlier animals. (The jaw muscles of a synapsid are anchored to the edges of the skull opening). Pelycosaurs (like Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus) were early synapsids; they were mammal-like reptiles. Later synapsids include the therapsids and the cynodonts , which lived during the Triassic.
Cynodonts possessed many mammalian features, including the reduction or complete absence of lumbar ribs implying the presence of a diaphragm; well-developed canine teeth, the development of a bony secondary palate so that air and food had separate passages to the back of the throat; increased size of the dentary - the main bone in the lower jaw; and holes for nerves and blood vessels in the lower jaw, suggesting the presence of whiskers.
By 125 million years ago the mammals had already become a diverse group of organisms. Some of them would have resembled today's monotremes (e.g. platypus and echidna), but early marsupials (a group that includes modern kangaroos and possums) were also present. Until recently it was thought that placental mammals (the group to which most living mammals belong) had a much later evolutionary origin. However, recent fossil finds and DNA evidence suggest that the placental mammals are much older, perhaps evolving more than 105 million years ago. Note that the marsupial and placental mammals provide some excellent examples of convergent evolution , where organisms that are not particularly closely related have evolved similar body forms in response to similar environmental pressures.
However, despite the fact that the mammals had what many people regard as "advanced" features, they were still only minor players on the world stage. As the world entered the Jurassic period (213 - 145 million years ago), the dominant animals on land, in the sea, and in the air, were the reptiles. Dinosaurs, more numerous and more extraordinary than those of the Triassic, were the chief land animals; crocodiles, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs ruled the sea, while the air was inhabited by the pterosaurs.
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