Princeton University Press
Sea Mammals: The Past and Present Lives of Our Oceans' Cornerstone Species
Key Metrics
- Annalisa Berta
- Princeton University Press
- Hardcover
- 9780691236643
- -
- -
- Nature > Animals - Mammals
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
A richly illustrated introduction to the world's living and extinct sea mammals
From the gregarious sea otter and playful dolphins to the sociable narwhal and iconic polar bear, sea mammals are a large, diverse, and increasingly precious group. In this book, Annalisa Berta, a leading expert on sea mammals and their evolution, presents an engaging and richly illustrated introduction to past and present species of these remarkable creatures, from the blue whale and the northern fur seal to the extinct giant sperm whale, aquatic sloth, and walking sea cow.
The book features more than 50 individual species profiles, themed chapters, stunning photographs, and specially commissioned paleo-illustrations of extinct species. It presents detailed accounts of these mammals' evolutionary path, anatomy, behavior, habitats, and conservation. And because these are key species that complete many food chains and have the widest influence of all sea life, the book also offers insights into a broad variety of marine worlds today and in the future.
Author Bio
Annalisa Berta is professor of biology at San Diego State University, where she specializes in the evolutionary biology of marine mammals, especially baleen whales. Berta is coauthor of Marine Mammals, Third Edition: Evolutionary Biology and author of Return to the Sea: The Life and Evolutionary Times of Marine Mammals. She lives in San Diego, CA.
Source: University of Chicago Press
San Diego State University biologist Annalisa Berta has been elected by a council of her peers as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a prestigious honor recognizing her many contributions to the study of the evolutionary biology of marine mammals.
Berta received her Ph.D. in paleontology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979, then did post-doctoral work at the University of Florida. She came to SDSU in 1982 as a lecturer teaching human anatomy. At the time, her research expertise was mostly in terrestrial carnivores, but a research trip to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. changed the course of her career.
There, she was asked to help study a fossil seal and she became intrigued with marine mammals. In the decades since she joined SDSU as a tenure-track faculty member in 1989, Berta has published numerous highly cited studies and a handful of books for both academic and popular audiences. While her earlier marine mammal work focused on pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses), she earned distinction in the field with her later studies of whale anatomy and evolution.
Source: San Diego State University
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