SAUROS Rulers in the Age of Reptiles

Book excerpt: SAUROS - Rulers in the Age of Reptiles: Antarctica, Australia, India and Madagascar SCIENCE PAPERS Atelier Kaymak®’s Creative- & Study Books, Volume 3 In 2017, paleoanthropologists in Djebel Irhoud, Morocco, found bone fragments that turned out to be the oldest evidence of modern humans: The evolutionary history of Homo sapiens thus officially spans a whopping 315,000 years. Compared to the phylogeny of the ape genus, which spans nearly 2 million years, this may not seem like much. Compared to the history of the dinosaurs, however, it seems very modest: They existed for 186 million years! This book on dinosaurs is the beginning of a series that will gradually introduce all known species of the Mesozoic Era worldwide. The first volume presents reconstructions of all giant lizards of the Indo-Pacific region discovered so far in short informative presentations. Foreword (excerpt) We humans cannot, with the best will in the world, imagine the time frame that lies between the dinosaur era and our present. It is simply unimaginable. It can only be done in a very abstract way, with the help of numbers to which we cling like shipwrecked people to the lifeboat. Seriously: can we - who only have a very manageable and very short life span - imagine approximately what periods of millions of years are? Or of tens of thousands of years? A thousand years? It is already difficult for us to empathize with the one hundred year old, which we face with awe at the age we have already reached and with a great fear of the inevitable death that is still to come. But how to deal with the fact that 235 million years ago dinosaurs jumped around on the surface of the earth? Perhaps the thought that "time" is only an abstract measure, an invention of us humans, might help us a little. It gives us the illusion that we still play an important role in nature and that we can grasp and control our world. However, if we look at fossils, we quickly realize that we cannot compete with the smallest organisms that have had the good fortune to be preserved so well for millions of years in slate or amber. Introduction (excerpt) Since man has been able to get hold of his surroundings artistically, he has left traces of his history. What begins with simple, coloured handprints on cave walls, continues with figures carved in wood and bone, bronze works, sculptures carved from stone and painting: the cultural heritage of mankind. Not to forget not only joyful events but also memories of horrors and horrors. The captured visions and nightmares help people to always be aware that there are other creatures in the world besides themselves. Inexplicable beings. And dangerous creatures, which one should rather never meet. Despite the many different cultures - one creature seems to be omnipresent and to appear again and again: the bird griffin. A mixed creature, made up of the most terrible animals nature has to offer: a muscle-bound lion's body with huge paws that end in razor-sharp, ominous claws. Autor Kaymak has worked for more than 25 years as an illustrator, concept and comic artist, cartoonist and animator for advertising, PR, film and TV (see http://atelierkaymak.de). Since 2012 he has been writing didactically and humorously about history, politics, art and culture, vegetarianism and animal welfare. Copyright © 2020 by Nuesret Kaymak Illustrated and written by Nuesret Kaymak Translated and edited by Alice Kaymak Cover, design & typesetting: Atelier Kaymak UG Published by Atelier Kaymak UG, Aachen/Germany www.atelier-kaymak.de ISBN: 978-3-96183-040-4 Paperback ASIN: B0872FBHV5 Kindle ISBN: 978-3-96183-043-5 EPUB ISBN: 978-3-96183-044-2 PDF Tags Nature, natural sciences, biology, paleontology, geology, earth middle ages, earth ages, earth formation, fauna, early times, earth history, animals, lizards, dinosaurs, reptiles, didactics, learning, creative book, occupation book, knowledge, study book, painting, scrawl book, Nuesret Kaymak, Kaymak, Atelier Kaymak