Neptune's Ark: From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas

314 Pages·2007·3.35 MB·English

by  David Rains Wallace

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Neptune’s Ark
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Plotosaurus tuckeri
Plesiosaur
Sea otter
(Enhydra lutris)
Dusisiren jordani
[To view this image, refer to
the print version of this title.]

Allodesmus kelloggi
Smilodonichthys rastrosus
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Hesperornis regalis
Aetiocetus cotylalveus
Orca
(Orcinus orca)
[To view this image, refer to
the print version of this title.]

Shonisaurus sikanniensis
Human
(Homo sapiens)
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Neptune’s Ark
From Ichthyosaurs to Orcas
David RainsWallace
Illustrations by Ken Kirkland
University of California Press
Berkeley Los Angeles London
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The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
contribution to this book provided by the General
Endowment Fund of the University of California
Press Foundation.
University of California Press, one of the most
disinguished university presses in the United States,
enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship
in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation
and by philanthropic contributions from individuals
and institutions. For more information, visit
www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2007 by David Rains Wallace
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wallace, David Rains, 1945–.
Neptune’s ark : from ichthyosaurs to orcas / David
Rains Wallace ; illustrations by Ken Kirkland.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn978-0-520-24322-4 (cloth, alk. paper)
1. Vertebrates—Pacific Coast (U.S.)—History.
2. Marine animals—Pacific Coast (U.S.)—History.
I. Title.
ql606.52.u6w35 2007
596'.0979—dc22 2006035806
Manufactured in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper).
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To the memoryof T.H.Watkins
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We do not associate the idea of antiquity with the ocean,
nor wonder how it looked a thousand years ago,as we
doof the land,for it was equally wild and unfathomable
always.The Indians have left no tracks on its surface,
butit is the same to the civilized man and the savage.
Theaspect of the shore only has changed.The ocean is
awilderness reaching round the globe,wilder than a
Bengal jungle,and fuller of monsters,washing the very
wharves of our cities and the gardens of our sea-side
residences.Serpents,bears,hyenas,tigers rapidly vanish
ascivilization advances,but the most populous and
civilized city cannot scare a shark from its wharves.
Itisno further advanced than Singapore,with its tigers,
inthis respect.The Boston papers had never told me that
there were seals in the harbor.I had associated these with
the Esquimaux and other outlandish people.Yet from the
parlor windows all along the coast you see families of
fl
them sporting on the ats.They were as strange to me
asthe mermen would be.Ladies who never walk in the
woods,sail over the sea.Why,it is to have the experience
ofNoah,—to realize the deluge.Every vessel is an ark.
—Thoreau,Cape Cod