An edition of At the Water's Edge (1998)

At the Water's Edge

Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea

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At the Water's Edge
Carl Zimmer, Carl Zimmer
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Last edited by Tom Morris
August 29, 2023 | History
An edition of At the Water's Edge (1998)

At the Water's Edge

Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea

  • 4 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

At the Water's Edge takes you to the icy peaks of Greenland, the ancient shores of the Tethys Sea, and the warm waters of the Bahamas to visit with dolphins as it surveys how we have come to understand two special cases of macroevolution. In the first, around 360 million years ago, the descendants of one lineage of fish came ashore and rushed over the continents, eventually evolving into everything from turtles and dinosaurs to elephants and people.

Then around 50 million years ago, and just as remarkably, one branch of these descendants crept back into the water and evolved into whales, dolphins, and other highly intelligent underwater life. The resulting portrait of the origin of whales is as marvelous as it is compelling. The story begins before Darwin's revolution when the first mysterious fossils from these transitions were unearthed - often by colorful entrepreneurs more familiar with the techniques of the circus than those of the laboratory.

Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
304

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: At the Water's Edge
Cover of: At the Water's Edge
At the Water's Edge : Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to Sea
September 8, 1999, Free Press
Paperback in English - New Ed edition
Cover of: At the water's edge
At the water's edge: macroevolution and the transformation of life
1998, Free Press
in English

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Book Details


ID Numbers

Open Library
OL33523304M
ISBN 13
9781476799742

Source records

Better World Books record

Excerpts

In a basement laboratory in London a man contemplated a carcass.
added anonymously.

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History

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August 29, 2023 Edited by Tom Morris Merge works
August 29, 2023 Edited by Tom Morris merge authors
September 18, 2021 Created by ImportBot Imported from Better World Books record