"From trilobites near the Idaho border and primitive horses on the Columbia Plateau to giant bird tracks near Bellingham and curious bear-like beasts on the Olympic Peninsula, fossils across Washington State are filled with clues of past life on Earth. With abundant and well-exposed rock layers, the state has fossils dating from Ice Age mammals only 12,000 years old back to marine invertebrates more than 500 million years old. In Spirit Whales and Sloth Tales, paleontologist Elizabeth A. Nesbitt teams up with popular science writer David B. Williams to offer a tour through more than a half billion years of natural history. Following an introduction to key concepts, twenty-four profiles--each featuring a unique plant, animal, or environment--tell stories of individual fossils, many of which are on display in Washington museums. The paleontology of Washington is brought to life with details of the fossils' discovery and extraction, their place in geological time, and the insights they provide into contemporary issues like climate change and species extinction"-- Provided by publisher.