At the end of the last Ice Age North America lost most of its large mammals; mammoths, mastodons, giant sloths, dire wolves and others. That loss is attributed to two main causes: human overkill and climate change. Today the world is facing another extinction event. It is also being caused by our activities and climate change. North American Survivors looks at a unique collection of mammals that evolved in North America before the Ice Age and survived the Megafauna die off 12,000 years ago. How they managed to survive when so many of their contemporary species did not is the subject of this book. One species left North America only to return cons later. Several coped by being fluid in their choice of food.

Another retreated to mountain ramparts where essentially the Ice Age never ended. All of the species faced new challenges with the arrival of Europeans 500 years ago. The last two centuries saw human overkill almost cause the extinction of several iconic species. The last half century has seen climate change return as a looming threat. Yet the same species responsible for both these events, us, is also responsible for the resurgence in wildlife that North America is experiencing today. North American Survivors is about the past, the present and future of not only our wildlife treasures but a story of hope for our own future. There are lessons to be learned.