Evolution on islands differs in a number of important ways from evolution on
mainland areas. Over millions of years of isolation, exceptional and
sometimes bizarre mammals evolved on islands, such as pig-sized elephants and
hippos, giant rats and gorilla-sized lemurs that would have been formidable to
their mainland ancestors.
This timely and innovative book is the first to offer a much-needed
synthesis of recent advances in the exciting field of the evolution and
extinction of fossil insular placental mammals. It provides a comprehensive
overview of current knowledge on fossil island mammals worldwide, ranging from
the Oligocene to the onset of the Holocene.
This accessible and richly illustrated textbook is written for graduate
level students and professional researchers in evolutionary biology,
palaeontology, biogeography, zoology, and ecology.
