However now new data suggests not only did they live longer than that, but also survived in Siberia in the Holocene Era, about 9,000 years ago, much further than anyone ever knew. It had been previously thought that this animal, also known as the Irish Elk, a massive creature that stood 7ft (2 meters) tall and had antlers up to 10ft (up to 3.5 meters) wide, all but died out at around the time of the end of last Ice Age about 10,300 years ago.ĭistinctive animals because of their sheer size, they first appeared 400,000 years ago and were common in Ireland, Britain, and mainland Europe and Asia.

As it stands, I am immensely impressed with Kaleidoscope of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life, and I consider it a must-have for paleo-nerds of all ages.It had been previously thought that this animal, also known as the Irish Elk all but died out at around the time of the end of last Ice Age about 10,300 years ago. Picture: The Siberian TimesĪ team of Siberian scientists is among those that have contributed to breakthrough research on the extinction of a giant deer that once roamed the Earth. That’s all discussion for another time, however. As I mentioned in my review of Plants! Explorer, my ideal paleobotany book has yet to be written, and the one page of this book that deals with prehistoric plants feels like a tantalizing glimpse at what a possible version of that might look like. I discovered a “ Prehistoric Kingdom Puzzle” they worked on that depicts Ice Age megafauna, which I think I might just have to purchase to satisfy my cravings! I think the format of “Kaleidoscope” might also work for a layman’s paleobotany book. While the detail of the information is at roughly a grade school level, much of it is not widely known, and I dare say will open up a whole new world to most readers, who will hopefully be inspired to read the more detailed works on how we know what we know. It is incredible to think how that one-time truism has been turned on its head, and this book is the most vibrant celebration of that revolution that I have yet had the privilege to read. I still remember reading dinosaur books as a child which mentioned color as one of the things we would probably never know about dinosaurs. Greer Stothers has delivered us an absolute masterpiece with Kaleidoscope of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life.

Paleocene‘s Mike Keesey was actually involved in the study of the South American art, using his own paleoart skills to help picture various interpretations of the images depicted. The Columbian illustrations on the “Artisanal Americas” prove how up-to-date their information is, as these were only discovered and published on extremely recently. Greer further explores what info we can glean from prehistoric artwork from around the world. It feels at once both novel and banal previously, little attention had been paid to the colors of animal figures in cave & rock art, but when you think about it, why wouldn’t we at least try to glean some useful information from prehistoric eyewitnesses (taken with a grain of salt for artistic liberties, of course)? I hadn’t heard of anyone using this resource until Darren Naish published a pair of articles at Tetrapod Zoology calling attention to consistent color patterns on illustrations of Wooly Rhinoceros and the so-called “ Irish Elk“. Things take an interesting turn towards the end of the book though, when Greer shows us artwork from prehistoric humans, which gives us insight into the appearance of animals for which we have no direct evidence for their external soft tissue.

A detailed look at exactly how we can determine the colors of fossil organisms.

Irish elk prehistoric kingdom