Trilobite

By Ben Garrod and Gabriel Ugueto

TV scientist Ben Garrod presents the biggest extinction events ever, told from the point of view of evolution's superstars, the most incredible animals ever to swim, stalk, slither or walk our planet. Whether you're 9 or 90, his unique exploration of the most destructive, yet most creative, force in nature makes top level science fun.

Usually a species has 10 million years or so of evolving, eating, chasing, playing, maybe doing homework, or even going to the moon before it goes extinct.

Trilobite was a super-invader with its stomach in its head. 20,000 species of them survived over millions of years and even through two mass extinctions. Discover the secrets of these successful super-invaders and the Great Dying event which finally eliminated them 250 million years ago.

'Any budding paleontologists would be poring all over this and relishing the amazing array of facts and illustrations... Well written with clear explanations of some tricky concepts' Toppsta

Collect all eight books about animals we have lost in mass extinctions caused by asteroids or mega-volcanoes, clashing continents and climate change. Past brought to full-colour life by palaeoartist Gabriel Ugueto

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: May 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781838935344

Ben Garrod

Ben Garrod is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia. He broadcasts regularly on TV and radio, most recently the BBC Mammoth Hunters documentary with Sir David Attenborough and BBC This Morning for a new dinosaur discovery, and is trustee and ambassador of a number of key conservation organisations. His previous books include The Chimpanzee and Me and his eight-book series Extinct, The Story of Life on Earth, published by Zephyr. Ben lives in Bristol and Norwich. Find Ben @Ben_garrod on Twitter and Instagram and bengarrod.co.uk

Book preview

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IN THIS SERIES BY BEN GARROD AND GABRIEL UGUETO

Hallucigenia

Dunkleosteus

Trilobite

Lisowicia (October 2021)

Tyrannosaurus rex (October 2021)

Megalodon (February 2022)

Thylacine (February 2022)

Hainan gibbon (May 2022)

ALSO BY BEN GARROD

The Chimpanzee and Me

So You Think You Know About Dinosaurs? series:

Diplodocus

Triceratops

Spinosaurus

Tyrannosaurus rex

Stegosaurus

Velociraptor

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Ben Garrod

Illustrated by Gabriel Ugueto

AN IMPRINT OF HEAD OF ZEUS

www.headofzeus.com

This is a Zephyr book, first published in the UK in 2021 by Head of Zeus Ltd

Text copyright © Ben Garrod, 2021

Artwork copyright © Gabriel Ugueto, 2021

The moral right of Ben Garrod to be identified as the author and of Gabriel Ugueto to be identified as the artist of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN (HB): 9781838935320

ISBN (E): 9781838935344

Head of Zeus Ltd

5–8 Hardwick Street

London EC1R 4RG

WWW.HEADOFZEUS.COM

‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’

The Bhagavad-Gita

CONTENTS

Also by Ben Garrod

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

Introduction

img3.jpg What is Extinction?

img4.jpg Why Do Species Go Extinct?

img5.jpg Diseases, Predation and Competition

img6.jpg Coextinction

img7.jpg Genetic Mixing

img8.jpg Habitat Destruction

img9.jpg Climate Change

img10.jpg Timeline

img11.jpg Mass Extinctions

img12.jpg The Permian Mass Extinction

img13.jpg Causes

img14.jpg Effects

img15.jpg Ask the Expert

img16.jpg Trilobite

img17.jpg Trilobite: Discovery

img18.jpg Trilobite: Anatomy

img19.jpg Trilobite: Classification

img20.jpg Trilobite: Ecology

Glossary

Collect all eight titles in the EXTINCT series

About the Author

About the Illustrator

About Zephyr

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INTRODUCTION

For as long as there has been life on Earth, there has been extinction, and given enough time, all species will one day go extinct. It is all too easy to think extinction is terrible and that we should do all we can to stop a species from going extinct. That makes complete sense, doesn’t it? Right now, around one million species of plants, animals and other organisms are at real risk of going extinct because of our actions and we should do all we can to save as many of these wonderful species as possible.

But as bad and as sad as some extinctions are, the process of extinction itself is a natural one, and it is something that helps drive evolution and the development of more species.

*

I’m an evolutionary biologist and I’ve worked with some of the strangest, most beautiful, iconic and heartbreakingly threatened animals on our planet, from majestic tiger sharks and beautiful walruses to our own closest living relatives, the chimpanzee. We talk about extinction a lot but how much do you really know about it?

I wanted to write this series to explain what’s at stake if we carry on pushing so many other species into extinction. I want to explore extinction as a biological process and investigate why it can sometimes be a positive thing for evolution, as well as, at times, nature’s most destructive force. Let’s put it under the microscope and find out everything there is to know about it. Extinction is an incredible process and understanding it enables us to understand the world that little bit better and to make a difference.

When a species goes extinct, we place a dagger symbol (†) next to its name when it’s listed or mentioned in a scientific manner. So, if you do see the name of a species with a little dagger after it, you’ll know why. It’s extinct. In this series, I have written about eight fantastic species. Starting with Hallucigenia (†), then Dunkleosteus (†) and trilobites (†), through to Lisowicia (†), Tyrannosaurus rex (†) and megalodon (†), before finishing on thylacine (†) and lastly, the Hainan gibbon. Of these, only the Hainan gibbon does not have a dagger next to