SPECTACULAR,MYSTERIOUS,ELEGANT AND DISTURBING-the compelling beauty of vertebrate skeletons is revealed as never before in this astonishing collection of photographs, which provides a fascinating illustration of the mechanics of evolution.By observing these bones we come to understand the evolutionary reLationship between animals and also retrace our own history.
The animals that inhabit the Earth today carry within them the imprint of an evolutionary process that has lasted several billion years. Their structure has been shapedby the dual. limitations of their genetic inheritance and an all-powerful environment.
Spectacul.ar,mysterious,elegant or grotesque,the skeletons of vertebrates provide a particularly fascinating sight. The bones arrange themselves into almost graphic forms which appear easy to decipher,and encourage one to understand their history. Shaped by evolution,they underline the agile,ungainly,powerful or fragile qualities of today's species and testify to their distant past.
This book is a result of this dual approach,both scientific and aesthetic. Despite its rigorous subject-matter,the aim is accessibility and it reties on numerous examples of contemporary animals to interpret-and visualize-the principal,mechanisms of evolution.A substantial part of the volume is devoted to the pictorial,by virtue of its educational,qualities and the formal,beauty of the subject.The resul.ting photographic cotllection produces a unique iconography of unparalleled abundance and quality. An unfailing determination to confer 'readability' to the skelletons is therefore underscored by an aesthetic bias harking back to a tong tradition of naturalist drawing.
The approach and nature of its subject-matter,the number and diversity of the species selected and the scope and quality of the photographs make this an unprecedented and completelyoriginal project.
EDITOR'S NOTE 7
PREFACE
by Jeon Pierre Gosc 9
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
byJean-Baptiste de Panafieu 10
Ⅰ/ARCHITECTURE
1.THE ART OF REPETITION 16
2.A DEEP UNITY 20
3.BONY ARMOR 28
4.FIVE FINGERS 34
5.THE PROBLEMS OF GIANTS 38
6.SMALL ANIMALS,AND LARGE 42
7.THE FALSE FISHES 46
8.THE EXPLOSION OF THE FIVE CLASSES 56
9.ANIMAL STRUCTURES 62
Ⅱ/THE BIRTH OF SPECIES
10.ATHENE NOCTUA 70
11.ALL DIFFERENT 74
12.HYBRIDIZATION 76
13.THE THREE BEARS 82
14.THE SEKGULL RING 86
15.OF MICE AND MEN 88
16.THE SPARROW'S BEAK 90
17.AWELCOMING NEST 92
18.THE RUNNING APE 94
Ⅲ/SEDUCTION AND SELECTION
19.THE RED QUEEN 100
20.ARMAMENTS AND ORNAMENTS 104
21.THE MOST FAMOUS NECKS 116
22.COMPETING FANGS 120
23.LOVE BEFORE DEATH 124
24.THE NUMBER OF HORNS 128
25.THE GENDER OF BONES 132
Ⅳ/EVOLUTIONARY TINKERING
26.THE UNICORN'S TOOTH 136
27.TEETH OF HORN 158
28.PAWS, WINGS, AND FINS 164
29.THE LAST DIGITS 176
30.THETWO PANDAS 182
31.THE MUTANTS OF THE DEEP 186
32.ADULTS STILL INFANTS 190
Ⅴ/THE POWER OF THE ENVIRONMENT
33.SKY CONQUERORS 196
34.SEA COWS 204
35.THETRIUMPH OFTHE RUMINANTS 218
36.LOST LEGS 224
37.EATING ANTS 230
38.MIRROR CONTINENTS 240
39.BIG SKULLS 254
Ⅵ/EVOLUTION AND TIME
40.A BRIEF MOMENT FOR THE IBIS 260
41.FIGURES FROM THE PAST 264
42.A HIGHLY EVOLVED PUZZLE 266
43.MONITORED EVOLUTION 268
44.MAN'S TIME 274
APPENDICES
CLASSIFICATION 280
THE PHYLOGENETIC TREE OF THE VERTEBRATES 281
GLOSSARY 282
BIBLIOGRAPHY 283
GENERAL INDEX 284
ZOOLOGICAL INDEX 285
SOURCE OF SPECIMENS 286
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 287