Beasts Before Us

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For most of us, the story of mammal evolution starts after the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, but in the last 20 years scientists have uncovered new fossils and used new technologies that have enabled them to drastically rewrite this story. This book takes readers back to the real origin story of our mammalian ancestors, three-hundred million years earlier in the alien world of the Carboniferous.In Beasts Before Us, palaeontologist Elsa Panciroli charts the emergence of the mammal lineage, Synapsida, from their murky split from the reptiles at the dawn of life. They made the world theirs long before the rise of dinosaurs. And familiar faces like Dimetrodon flourished alongside sabre-toothed hyper-predators, chunky armoured plant-eaters, and small pig-faced diggers. Travelling forward into the Permian and then Triassic periods, we learn how ancient mammal ancestors went from large hairy beasts with fast metabolisms and then evolved to exploit miniaturization, which was the key to unlocking the traits that define mammals as we know them today. Their adaptations proved so successful, that to this day most mammals retain the same lifestyle - and undoubtedly our most diminutive cousins will outlive us all.The story of our most ancient of ancestors is globe-spanning, and Elsa will take readers around the world to explore the places where discoveries are being made and meet the people who make them. In Scotland, we cross the desert dunes of prehistoric Moray-shire, where quarry workers unearthed the footprints of Permian beasts from before the time of dinosaurs. In South Africa we puzzle over animals, once called 'mammal-like reptiles', that gave scientists the first hints that our furry kin evolved from a lineage of egg-laying burrowers. In China, new and incredible complete skeletons reveal mammals that were gliders, shovel-pawed Jurassic moles, and flat-tailed swimmers.This book reframes the narrative of mammal evolution and provides a counterpoint to the stereotypes of mighty dinosaur overlords and cowering little mammals. It turns out the earliest mammals weren't just precursors, they were pioneers.