When the Whales Walked tackles a big, complex subject – the evolution of life on Earth – and succeeds in explaining it clearly, vividly and in way that will catch the imagination of young readers. It examines thirteen case studies, each describing the evolution of a different group of animals, from the earliest fish right up to modern Homo Sapiens. It explains the history of each group with the help of illustrations and diagrams, challenging children to spot the patterns in the ways that different animals have evolved. There’s a timeline of life on Earth, diagrams to explain the evolutionary tree and a cladogram, all there to help make the subject crystal clear. A book that thoroughly respects the intelligence and inquisitiveness of its readers and rewards their attention.
From the moment life crawled out of the oceans and onto land, to when our primate ancestors climbed down from the trees, the history of Planet Earth is filled with incredible stories. This beautifully illustrated guide explores some of the most exciting and incredible events in evolution, through 13 case studies.
Step back in time and discover a world where whales once walked, crocodiles were warm-blooded and snakes had legs! Meet terrifying giant birds, and tiny elephants living on islands in this fascinating creature guide like no other. Learn how whales once walked on four legs before taking to the oceans; how dinosaurs evolved into birds; and how the first cats were small and lived in trees.
Featuring a stunning mix of annotated illustrations, illustrated scenes and family trees, evolution is explained here in a captivating and novel style that will make children look at animals in a whole new way.
Dougal Dixon studied geology and paleogeography at the University of St Andrews. He is an award-winning author specialising in the earth sciences and evolution with many children's books and encyclopaedias to his name. He has acquired a reputation for putting over the concepts in a totally novel way. Along these lines his most notable books are After Man: A Zoology of the Future in which he explained the workings of evolution by postulating the types of animals that may evolve in times to come, and The New Dinosaurs, in which he described the zoogeography of the world by describing what life might be like today had the dinosaurs not become extinct.
