Going,Going,Gone - A Natural History Museum Weird and Wonderful Guides - Old and rare

Sep 29, 2026

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Going,Going,Gone is a natural history guide that introduces rare and endangered wildlife through vivid, kid-friendly facts about extinction and preservation. The section “Old and rare” explains how life changes over vast time scales, using examples such as living fossils like the pearly nautilus and fossils formed in ancient rocks. It also highlights historical extinctions, including the dodo, and addresses causes such as hunting, habitat loss, and disease.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLifestyle

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time37 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Old and rare

Fantastic fossils

Life on Earth

Incredible dinosaurs

Living fossils

Rare plants

Rare animals

Rare treasures

Index

The Natural History Museumleird&Wonderful Guides GoingGoing,Barbara Taylor Gone Going,Going, Gone Barbara Taylor NORTH SAHAS0TAPUBLIC LIBRARYSARASOTA,FL 34234 Acknowledgments The publishers would like to thank: MarwellZoological Park,National Birds of Prey Centre,Weymouth Sealife Park,Chelsca Physic Garden,Kings Reptile World,Virginia Cheeseman,Mark O'Shea and thefoilowing staff at The Natural History Museum,London:Barry Bolton,Steve Brooks,Paul Clark,Barry Clarke,Paul Cornelius,Oliver Crimmen,Peter Forey,Frank Greenaway,Richard Harbord,Daphne Hills,PaulHillyard,Paula Jenkins,Carol Levick,Judith Marshall,Colin McCarthy,Angela Milner,Fred Naggs,CallyOldershaw,Gordon Paterson,Robert Press,Robert Prys-Jones,Gaden Robinson,Andrew Smith,Chris Stanley,Frank Steinheimer,John Taylor,Kathie Way,the staff of the EM Unit,Photo Unit,Picture Library andPublishing Division. Photography copyright ◎The Natural History Museum,except the following:p.16 tr copyright ◎BBC Natural History Unit(Nick Garbutt)p.7bl copyright ◎Natural History Photographic Agencyp.14t&b,p.17cl copyright Planet Earth Picturesp.18-19 background copyright C Science Photo Library(Renec Lynn)New photography by Frank Greenaway The creatures in this book are not reproduced life size,or to scale. This Americanized Edition of Going,Going,Gone originally published in Englishin 2001 is published in arrangement with Oxford University Press. Published in the United States in 2001 by Peter Bedrick BooksA division of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group,Inc.4255 West Touhy Avenue,Lincolnwood(Chicago),Illinois 60712-1975 U.S.A.Text copyright ◎Barbara Taylor 2000All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,with-out the prior written permission of the copyright holders. Printed in China International Standard Book Number:0-87226-658-3 10987654321 Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataTaylor,Barbara,1954-Going,going,gone/Barbara Taylor. p.cm.—(The Natural History Museum weird and wonderful guides)ISBN 0-87226-658-3 1.Rare animals—Miscellanea—Juvenile literature.2.Animals,Fossil—Juvenile literature. (1.Endangered species—Misce!lanea.2.Rare animals—Miscelianea.3.Rare plants-Miscellanea.4.Fossils) I.Title.II.Series. QL83.T282001 591.68—dc21 00-56488 Contents Old and rare6Fantastic fossils8Life on Earth10Incredible dinosaurs12Living fossils14Rare plants16Rare animals18Rare treasures20Index22 # Old and rare Since life first appeared on Earthabout 3,800 million years ago,anincredible variety of creatureshas lived,and died out.Newliving things have graduallytaken the place of old ones.When a creature dies outit is gone forever.Manyof today's rare specieswill die out soonif we do notsave them. Animals looking rather likethis have been found preservedas fossils in rocks hundreds ofmillions of years old.Yet thispearly nautilus lives in today'soceans.It is called a living fossil,because it has not changed overmillions of years. About 300 years ago,people onthe island of Mauritius in theIndian Ocean killed the lastdodo.Dodos could not fly andwere very trusting,so wereeasy for people to killand eat.Rats anddogs also ate theTrilobites lived aboutdodo's eggs.590-250 million years ago.They were the distant relativesof today's shrimps and lobsters.They had many legs and longfeelers at the front. 7 TRUEFALSERare gorillas canbe killed by measles?In 1970,there were about 2 millionelephants in Africa.Today there are fewerthan 500,000 lefi?Dodos were fast fliers?Jaguars are rare becausepeople have hunted themfor their fabulous spotty fur.Their rainforest home hasalso been destroyed. 4n5wc 5己2 ? aU 喜KMillions of years ago,insects were sometimes trapped in thesticky resin that oozed out ofthe bark of trees.They werepreserved if the resin becamehard and changed into anorange-yellow substa

FAQs

Why does the book emphasize that when a creature dies out it is gone forever?

It explains that extinction ends a species permanently, so rare species may disappear unless they are saved.

What is a “living fossil” and which example is given?

A living fossil is a creature that has not changed for millions of years. The pearly nautilus is given as an example.

What factors helped lead to the dodo’s extinction?

The dodo could not fly and was trusting, making it easy for people to kill and eat, while rats and dogs also ate dodo eggs.

Sep 29, 2026

Upload by Finn