The Invaders, Pat Shipman
The Invaders, Pat Shipman
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The Invaders
How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction

Author: Pat Shipman

Narrator: Donna Postel

Unabridged: 7 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/19/2015


Synopsis

Approximately 200,000 years ago, as modern humans began to radiate out from their evolutionary birthplace in Africa, Neanderthals were already thriving in Europe—descendants of a much earlier migration of the African genus Homo. But when modern humans eventually made their way to Europe 45,000 years ago, Neanderthals suddenly vanished. Ever since the first Neanderthal bones were identified in 1856, scientists have been vexed by the question, why did modern humans survive while their evolutionary cousins went extinct?



The Invaders musters compelling evidence to show that the major factor in the Neanderthals' demise was direct competition with newly arriving humans. Drawing on insights from the field of invasion biology, Pat Shipman traces the devastating impact of a growing human population: reduction of Neanderthals' geographic range, isolation into small groups, and loss of genetic diversity.




But modern humans were not the only invaders who competed with Neanderthals for big game. Shipman reveals fascinating confirmation of humans' partnership with the first domesticated wolf-dogs soon after Neanderthals first began to disappear. This alliance between two predator species, she hypothesizes, made possible an unprecedented degree of success in hunting large Ice Age mammals—a distinct and ultimately decisive advantage for humans over Neanderthals at a time when climate change made both groups vulnerable.

About Pat Shipman

Pat Shipman is an anthropologist and a retired adjunct professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of several books, including The Animal Connection, The Man Who Found the Missing Link, and Taking Wing, which won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin on October 26, 2023

Where modern humans go a wave of extinction is sure to follow. This is the gist of Pat Shipman’s hypothesis on the disappearance of the Neandertals. She contends that it was a combination of factors—climate change, deforestation, volcanic activity, competition for resources, genetic propensity, inva......more

Goodreads review by Wee on June 23, 2023

A fascinating if slightly depressing, hypothesis- and a surprisingly chill read.......more

Goodreads review by Hilary "Fox" on June 26, 2018

As other reviewers have already pointed out, the title of this book is something of a misnomer. The bulk of the text concerns itself with the Neanderthal extinction and establishing the fact that it was already well under way prior to homo sapiens migrating into Eurasia. The book is a bit more suite......more

Goodreads review by Gilda on June 11, 2017

There are several intriguing ideas regarding how the histories of three species, Neanderthal, human, and wolf, came together. Though I suppose collided would describe it better. I was especially taken with how the author names human as the invasive species that they were, invading new lands and brin......more

Goodreads review by Jonathan on August 30, 2020

I think the title is a little deceptive. If you are interested In good general interest history in how the Neanderthals and Homo sapiens hashed it out in Europe back in the day then this book is not for you (or me). You can find out all you can learn from this book by reading a review or publishers......more