The History of the European Fauna

"The History of the European Fauna" by R.F. (Robert Francis) Scharff is a scientific exploration into the story of Europe's animals, arguing that to understand where animals live now, we have to understand where they came from, examining shifts in geography and climate. Scharff opens the book with the puzzle of how animals ended up where they are, pointing out special animals in different areas and sharing his experiences that hint at old journeys and environments that shaped these events. He acknowledges the missing pieces in the fossil record for some animals, and the challenges faced by both geologists and zoologists to fully understand animal history. The beginning of the study introduces the study of animals to the reader by laying out how the changing earth and resources across time has shaped the evolution of the species.