The Ice Age Tracker’s Guide

A colourful introduction to 12 great beasts of the ice age in a spotter’s guide format, written by a Professor of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum. For would-be explorers there is information on how each animal lived, fed and hunted, with notes on body shape, fur, behaviour, plus signs to look for such as dung and tracks. We learn that woolly mammoths lived in groups of 20 to 30 animals, but sometimes joined with other groups in hundreds to migrate. Trackers are warned to look out for tufts of coarse fur caught in trees, left perhaps by Mastodon, or subdued growling noises, possibly Litoptern, a camel-like creature with a curious floppy nose. Martin Ursell’s colourful illustrations complement the light tone of the text which never takes itself too seriously. This is bound to do well in the Natural History Museum’s own shop, but will suit young dinosaur hunters and budding palaeontologists too.