At The Waters Edge: Fish With Fingers, Whales With Legs, And How Life Came Ashore But Then Went Back To Sea (Touchstone); Author: Zimmer, Carl; Illustrator Buell, Carl Dennis; Paperback

Author: Zimmer, Carl; Illustrator Buell, Carl Dennis
Touchstone Edition; Paperback
288 pages
Published: November 1999
Simon & Schuster (Trade Division)
ISBN: 0684856239

At the Water's Edge delves into evolution's most dramatic transitions -- the journey of animal life from water to land, and the return of some land creatures to the sea. In a story that encompasses four billion years, Carl Zimmer describes the changes -- in bodies, minds, and living habits -- that occurred as descendants of fish evolved to become a dynasty of animals ranging from dinosaurs and snakes to elephants and human beings. He then tells the mirror tale of how wolf-like mammals took to the sea and became today's whales and dolphins.With first-person accounts by scientists in the forefront of these macroevolutionary studies, and detailed drawings of fossils, this entertaining, accessible book demonstrates how newly discovered ecological, developmental, and behavioral eviSubtitled Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs. An accessible account of one of evolution's greatest mysteries - how microbes turned into humans.How did we ever get ashore? How did we make legs, arms and our extremely complex intelligence? Evolution is one of the most hotly debated areas of popular science. With this book, the author presents an accessible account of one of evolution's great mysteries - how microbes turned into humans.