Virtual Book Launch: “Endangered Species”

Happy timezones, Friends! Today, I proudly bring you a virtual book blast! The book is called Savage Land Book 1, Endangered Species, and it’s written by Jacqui Murray. You will enjoy this trilogy as Jacqui has put in a lot of researched details. An article will be included.

Summary:

Savage Land is the third prehistoric man trilogy in the series, Man. Vs. Nature.Written in the spirit of Jean Auel, Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth’s history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Each tribe starring in the story considered themselves apex predators. Neither was. That crown belonged to Nature and she was intent on washing the blight of man from her face.

In Endangered Species, Book One of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe must join with Fierce’s Tall Ones—a Homo sapiens tribe–on a cross-continent journey that starts in the Siberian Mountains. The goal: a new homeland far from the devastation caused by the worst volcanic eruption ever experienced by Man. How they collaborate despite their instinctive distrust could end the journey before it starts or forge new relationships that will serve both well in the future.

In Badlands, Book Two, the tribes must split up, each independently crossing what Nature has turned into a wasteland. They struggle against starvation, thirst, and desperate enemies more feral than human. If they quit or worse, lose, they will never reunite with their groups or escape the most deadly natural disaster ever faced by our kind.

Join me in this three-book fictional exploration of Neanderthals. Be ready for a world nothing like what you thought it would be, filled with clever minds, brilliant acts, and innovative solutions to potentially life-ending problems, all based on real events. At the end of this trilogy, you’ll be proud to call Neanderthals family.

Book information:

Endangered Species—Print, digital, audio available: http://a-fwd.com/asin=B0DJ9Y7PQ8
Badlands—digital on presale now: http://a-fwd.com/asin=B0DFCV5YFT
Genre: Prehistoric fiction
Editor: Anneli Purchase

Author bio:

Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman

, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. Her non-fiction includes 100+ books on tech into education, reviews as an Amazon Vine Voice and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics.

Social Media contacts:

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jacqui-Murray/e/B002E78CQQ/
Blog:                                       https://worddreams.wordpress.com
Pinterest:                                http://pinterest.com/askatechteacher
X:                                            http://twitter.com/worddreams
Website:                                 https://jacquimurray.net

Jacqui’s Article:

What Brought an End to Neanderthals

Neanderthals came into existence about 400,000 years ago and disappeared about 40,000 years ago. During their time, they co-existed with many other species of humans, notably Homo erectus,  Homo heidelbergensis, the Denisovans, and Homo sapiens. They are considered a robust adaptive species, but eventually, like all other human species except our own, became extinct.

Despite their demise being fairly recent in geologic time, we still can’t say definitively what brought about their end. Here are some theories:

They were wiped out by Homo sapiens

Little evidence indicates that Neanderthals were violent by nature, despite their muscular bodies, powerful arms, and use of weapons like spears. They seemed to use these traits and skills to adapt to their tough environment, not for violence against enemies. There is clear evidence that our species–who arrived in Neanderthal territories somewhere between 5,000 and 20,000 years before Neanderthal demise–had no problem fighting and killing other human species for a variety of sometimes questionable reasons. They buttressed those attitudes by becoming masters of the throwing spear (where Neanderthals tended to thrust theirs from a close proximity). They used the bow and arrow with skill (scientists disagree if Neanderthals used these).

Furthermore, as far as we can tell, Neanderthals didn’t believe in ownership of land or items, an attitude practiced by American Indians. Our species seemed to believe in owning and defending land and other items. It was less about sharing than survival of the fittest.

They were absorbed by Homo sapiens

Neanderthals total population at one time was only about 100,000, spread throughout Eurasia. They lived in small groups of 10-20 individuals, and often couldn’t find mates so ended up mating within families. This resulted in sick babies that didn’t survive. When our kind arrived from Africa, Neanderthals mated freely with them which resulted in a hybrid species, eventually more Homo sapiens than Neanderthal. Some believe Neanderthals were simply absorbed into our species.

They just died out (small group, small numbers, cold temperatures)

The small group sizes and the poor reproduction of tribes presented challenges to survival by themselves. It is possible–even likely–that they didn’t become absorbed into our species. Neanderthals simply died out for lack of sufficient new babies.

They suffered a genetic bottleneck

Many scientists believe a genetic bottleneck known to have occurred around 75,000 years ago contributed to the Neanderthals slow demise, by 45-40,000 years ago.

What is a genetic bottleneck? It is a period of dramatically reduced population size that threatens a species continuation. This happened several times in Neanderthal lifespan as well as our own.

They were wiped out by a massive natural disaster

About 75,000 years ago, Mt. Toba in Indonesia erupted. Some contend it ushered in a volcanic winter spanning six-ten years (or shorter, or longer, depending upon who you talk to). The eruption’s plume was twenty-five miles high and deposited a six-inch ash layer as far away as India. Climate models suggest global cooling of 3.5–9 °C and a 25% reduction in precipitation. It is considered the most destructive volcanic eruption ever in man’s existence.

Mt. Toba’s historic eruption devastated the homeland of Savage Land’s People and inspired their migration to Gibraltar.

***

Still today, there is no agreement among experts why Neanderthals became extinct. Most likely, it is a combination of a few or all of the above reasons.

Thank you so much, Jacqui, for allowing me to take part in this exciting time, and to share this wonderful book with my readers! And, last but not least, congratulations!

Thank you, Friends, for reading, liking, lurking, and commenting, You are important!

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