Here Be Dragons: How the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions Revolutionized Our Views of Life and Earth

Why are polar bears found only near the North Pole, and penguins only near the South? Why are there so many kinds of finches on the Galapagos Islands?

The story of how animals and plants came to be found where they are-the story of biogeography-brings together two great theories of life and Earth: evolution and plate tectonics. In this wonderfully rich telling, that takes in pygmy mammoths and orca whales, Dennis McCarthy traces the powerful forces that have altered the surface of the planet and shaped the pattern of life on Earth.