| Description |
1 online resource (xxii, 356 pages) : illustrations |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
PART I. The story in the rocks -- A narrative of travels -- Conquering land: ticking boxes -- The Karoo -- The permo-triassic kick-start -- Reptile takeover -- The great shrinking -- Feathers and fur -- Taking to the air -- The heat of darkness -- PART II. The story in the bloods -- The day of reckoning -- Clown mouse and golden mole -- Madness -- Ankarafantsika -- Ancient hibernation -- Twenty-four nipples -- The pronghorn pinnacle -- Cool sperm -- Why we are hot -- Appendix one: heat on demand -- Appendix two: nasal evaporative cooling -- Appendix three: family trees -- References -- Index. |
| Summary |
A groundbreaking argument on how endothermy-arguably the most important innovation in vertebrate evolution-developed in birds and mammals This pioneering work investigates why endothermy, or "warm-bloodedness," evolved in birds and mammals, despite its enormous energetic costs. Arguing that single-cause hypotheses to explain the origins of endothermy have stalled research since the 1970s, Barry Gordon Lovegrove advances a novel conceptual framework that considers multiple potential causes and integrates data from the southern as well as the northern hemisphere. Drawing on paleontological data; research on extant species in places like the Karoo, Namaqualand, Madagascar, and Borneo; and novel physiological models, Lovegrove builds a compelling new explanation for the evolution of endothermy. Vividly narrated and illustrated, this book stages a groundbreaking argument that should prove provocative and fascinating for specialists and lay readers alike |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Warm-blooded animals -- Evolution.
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Evolution (Biology)
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Macroevolution.
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Body temperature -- Regulation.
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Mammals.
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Mammalia (class) |
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MEDICAL -- Physiology. |
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SCIENCE -- Life Sciences -- Human Anatomy & Physiology. |
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Mammals. |
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Body temperature -- Regulation. |
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Evolution (Biology) |
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Macroevolution. |
| Other Form: |
Print version: Lovegrove, Barry. Fires of life. New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2019] 9780300227161 (DLC) 2018960623 (OCoLC)1055252886 |
| ISBN |
9780300245202 (electronic book) |
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0300245203 (electronic book) |
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0300227167 (hardcover ; alkaline paper) |
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9780300227161 (hardcover ; alkaline paper) |
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