List of illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue : Steller's sea ape -- Reefs in the desert -- Amphibious ambiguities -- Bird teeth and reptile necks -- Tail tales -- Cope's elusive ophidians -- Hooves into flippers -- Marsh's deceptive desmostylians -- Emlong's whale -- Paws into flippers -- Sea cows and oyster bears -- long, warm summer -- Emptying bays -- Punctuated pinnipeds and Darwinian sirenians -- Advent of autumn -- Ice age invasions -- Hands into paddles -- Pileated woodpecker's boat -- end of the Earth -- industrial interlude -- Intimations of communication -- Epilogue : The old man of the sea -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.