LIFE SCULPTED

There is much to love between this book s covers There are many eureka moments in Life Sculpted and some truly beautiful ones Eugenia Bone Wall Street Journal Meet the menagerie of lifeforms that dig crunch bore and otherwise reshape our planet Did you know elephants dig ballroom sized caves alongside volcanoes Or that parrotfish chew coral reefs and poop sandy beaches Or that our planet once hosted a five ton dinosaur crunching alligator cousin In fact almost since its fascinating start life was boring Billions of years ago bacteria algae and fungi began breaking down rocks in oceans a role they still perform today About a half billion years ago animal ancestors began drilling scraping gnawing or breaking rocky seascapes In turn their descendants crunched through the materials of life itself shells wood and bones Today such bioeroders continue to shape our planet from the bacteria that devour our teeth to the mighty moon snail always hunting for food as evidenced by tiny snail made boreholes in clams and other moon snails There is no better guide to these lifeforms than Anthony J Martin a popular science author paleontologist and co discoverer of the first known burrowing dinosaur Following the crumbs of lichens sponge