Pleistocene Mammals of Europe

"This is an admirable book. It is a successful effort to place the specialized knowledge of the Pleistocene vertebrate paleontologist at the disposal of other specialists. The word "interdisciplinary" implies effort toward bridging a gap, but all too often the result falls into the crevasse rather than crossing it. Professor KurtEn has solved this problem by producing a fact-filled work in a highly readable style; this is a rare combination... Even... [if] one has no direct interest in mammals, this book is a fine model of how to make systematics important and understandable to other disciplines. Even biochemists might be able to appreciate this work. Please read it." --Ellis L. Yochelson, Systematic Zoology "Study of the fauna of the Quaternary, the last period in the geological history of the earth, takes a special place in palaeontology. The material for it is collected according to classical palaeontological methods, but a new element appears: the final product of the evolution of the animal world this time is represented by the Recent fauna which can be studied with all the methods of contemporary zoology... The book is written in non-technical language, which is important because it will be used not only by palaeontologists but also by anthropologists, geologists and zoologists interested in the history of our continent in the Ice Age.... For an ecologists the book of KurtEn is an interesting and up-to-date source of information about the influence on animals of dramatic changes of climate in the Ice Age... Without knowledge of them the Recent animal world of Europe cannot be understood and KurtEn's book discusses broadly and in an inspiring way all of these problems." --K. Kowalski, Journal of Animal Ecology "This long awaited compendium, written in English in a semi-popular presentation, summarizes a literature unwieldy in its multi-national origins, hence relatively unattainable to any but the specialist... The text is well balanced and lucid." --John E. Gulday, Ecology "This book is highly welcome in that it brings a great wealth of paleontological data together for a wide audience at a nontechnical level. Students of archeology, prehistory, and a variety of related sciences will readily appreciate an explanatory text that proves a systematic overview of the Pleistocene mammals of Europe. Similarly, Pleistocene specialists of many kinds, with little or no anatomical training, can now enjoy ready access to a previously obscure field, thanks in part to the widely ranging bibliogprhy (319 itesms)... [T]his is an excellent and useful book, presenting an amazing amount of data in a restricted space." --Karl W. Butzer, American Anthropologist "Written in a non-technical style... [this book] provides a link between palaeontology and zoology, and to a lesser extent, between geology and prehistoric archaeology, and should appeal to a wide range of readers... Skeletal features are particularly well illustrated, and there are numerous tables, charts and maps. This book is not only easy and pleasant to read, but should form a valuable reference work for many years." --S. A. Baldwin, Man "Now, happily, we have a comprehensible summary by a European Pleistocene paleontologist whose own research has dealt with many of the groups... KurtEn has done an admirable job in organizing and explaining this complexity in understandable terms." --Charles A. Reed, Science "This is an admirable book. It is a successful effort to place the specialized knowledge of the Pleistocene vertebrate paleontologist at the disposal of other specialists. The word "interdisciplinary" implies effort toward bridging a gap, but all too often the result falls into the crevasse rather than crossing it. Professor KurtEn has solved this problem by producing a fact-filled work in a highly readable style; this is a rare combination... Even... [if] one

Bjorn Kurten (1924-1988) was lecturer in palaeontology at the University of Helsinki. He is well known for his studies of the Pleistocene carnivores and of human evolution. He was a recipient of Unesco's Kalinga Award. Some of his most famous publications include On the Variation and Population Dynamics of Fossil and Recent Mammal Populations and Pleistocene Mammals of North America.

One: Faunal Sequence in Europe; 1: Setting the Stage; 2: The Villafranchian, Prelude to the Ice Age; 3: Chronology of the Ice Age; 4: The Age of Interglacials; 5: The Age of Glaciations; Two: Pleistocene Mammal Species; 6: Introducing the Pleistocene Mammals; 7: Order Insectivora; 8: Order Chiroptera; 9: Order Primates; 10: Order Carnivora; 11: Order Proboscidea; 12: Order Perissodactyla; 13: Order Artiodactyla; 14: Order Rodentia; 15: Order Lagomorpha; Three: The Changing Fauna; 16: The Species Problem in the Quaternary; 17: Size and Numbers; 18: Origination of Species; 19: Faunal Turnover; 20: Animal Geography; 21: Man and the Fauna