Washoe County Library System

"Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Adapting from her New York Times-bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning adult nonfiction, Elizabeth Kolbert explores the Anthropocene...

"Trilobites hold the distinction of being among the world's first dominant forms of complex animal life, arthropods that rank second only to the hallowed dinosaur in terms of their paleontological appeal. These bizarrely beautiful three-lobed creatures initially appeared in the seas more than 520 million years ago, emerging when the oceans had become ripe for the blossoming of biodiversity. These Paleozoic inhabitants would populate the planet's marine...

More than 200 million years ago, a cataclysm known as the Permian extinction destroyed nearly 97 percent of all living things. Its origins have long been a puzzle. Paleontologist Ward, fresh from helping prove that an asteroid had killed the dinosaurs, turned to the Permian problem, and he has come to a stunning conclusion: that the near-total devastation at the end of the Permian period was caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide leading to climate...

"Each disparate object described in this book-a Caspar David Friedrich painting, a species of tiger, a villa in Rome, a Greek love poem, an island in the Pacific-shares a common fate: it no longer exists, except as the dead end of a paper trail. Recalling the works of W. G. Sebald, Bruce Chatwin, and Rebecca Solnit, An Inventory of Losses is a beautiful evocation of twelve specific treasures that have been lost to the world forever, and that, taken...

Provides hands-on projects, including creating fossils, drawing a geological timeline, and simulating the effects of ocean acidification, to understand why mass extinctions happen.

"The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth. Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller--including gorilla-sized lemurs, 800-pound birds, crocodiles that weighed a ton or more--roamed the earth. These great beasts, or "megafauna," lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone. What caused the disappearance of these...

Investigate how an asteroid vanquished the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Join scientists as they drill into the impact crater and, for the first time, reconstruct the hell on earth that unfolded in the minutes, hours, and months after the impact.

From award-winning filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert, comes the remarkable story of the black rhino and those who are fighting to save the last of these amazing creatures.

"Information about some of the more important and interesting extinct animals, including the animal's common name and scientific name; also includes a glossary, additional resources, and an index"--