Wandering lands and animals

by Edwin Harris Colbert

book

Hardcover

First published March 24, 1986

Reviews

[Last Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrift Through the Ages:

In Antarctica, 1969-70, the author, Dr. Edwin H. Colbert and his team of scientists made the find of a lifetime, a fossil of the Dycinodont Reptile “Lystrosaurus”, a fossil that helped confirm the controversial theory of Continental Drift and opened the way to his marvelous 1973 book “Wandering Lands and Animals”. At one time scientists, and the general public, thought that the continents always looked the same and were in the same position, kinda fixed in place as it were. But then in 1912 a German scientist named Alfred Wegener formulated a “hypothesis” suggesting that the continents may have slowly drifted around the Earth to different locations and different configurations. His idea was initially rejected by Main Stream Geologist as a fantasy. It would take many years and additional evidence before his hypothesis was accepted as possible. Colbert’s Antarctic find was kind of a tipping point because there was really no other way that Lystrosaurus could have end up on so many different continents. Colbert’s book helps you follow the continents, and animals that lived on them, through the ages from their ancient beginnings to todays familiar locations. “Wandering Lands and Animals” reads more like a text-book that some readers may consider rather dry but it contains a lot of information and was probably written for the paleontology student anyway. In the decades since 1973 there have been new findings and observations on Continental Drift but Colbert’s original discovery is still a valid confirmation of the theory. The book closes with a section of Colbert’s speculations and thoughts on early man’s impact on the environment and what caused the so called mega fauna extinction some 12 to 15 thousand years ago. In spite of it’s age this is a great look at science history and provides closer look at Wegener’s Drifting Lands and animals!

Last Ranger