Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils

Normally, the behavior of extinct animals is thought to be better demonstrated by trace fossils. There are many cases, however, where one can infer behavior of extinct animals from body fossils alone. These are not plentiful, in the sense that it usually requires very good preservation and/or special circumstances for behavioral inference to be made. The new book “Locked in Time.” by Dean R. Lomax discusses such specimens in detail.Dean R. Lomax is currently a visiting scientist at the University of Manchester. He is a professional paleontologists and scientific communicator and has written several books, some aimed at a younger audience. The illustrator Bob Nicholls is a commercial natural history artist. You should check out his website paleocreations.com.This book is divided into five sections, and about 10 fossils are discussed under each section. The sections are:1. Sex. This covers fossils of pregnant animals, not only mammals, but marine reptiles, fish, and invertebrates. Plus insects and turtles caught in the act of copulation.2. Parental care and communities Fossils with juvenile remains (or eggs) associated with an adult. Also monospecific bone beds, indicating mass fatalities of large groups of animals..3. Moving and making home Trackways, burrows, traces of motions just before death.4. Fighting, biting, and feeding. Toothmarks or actual teeth embedded in fossil bones. Evidence of a meal inside a predator. Evidence in coprolites of what was eaten.5. Unusual happenings. Evidence of parasitism, infections, injuries, and cancer. Plus miscellaneous unusual trace fossils.As you can see from the list above, while the emphasis is on body fossils, trace fossils are not excluded where relevant. A number of these examples are fairly new (published as late as 2020), so the book is up to date. Illustrations are black-and-white photographs of each fossil in question, plus a restoration of the animals demonstrating the behavior implied by the fossil. If you follow paleontology as a hobby, as I do, you have probably heard of many of the examples in “Locked in Time”: “fighting dinosaurs”, “brooding Oviraptor”, and “fish within a fish, etc..” However, I have not heard of at least one-third of the fossils. Here are five:One normally does not think of dinosaurs as digging borrows. Oryctodromeus is a small hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Montana. Three individual specimens, an adult and two juveniles were found buried at the end of a tunnel not much wider than the bodies. The bones are jumbled, which suggests they died long before sand filled the burrow and buried them. At least a few additional burrows containing Oryctodromeus have been found, indicating that this represents real behavior and not an accident. Puzzlingly, the arms of Oryctodromeus do not seem especially adapted to digging. Similarly unexpected are burrows for giant ground sloths of the Pleistocene. In Brazil there are several burrows about 2 meters high and tens of meters long. The walls of the burrows have scratch marks that correspond to the claws of large (1-2 ton) sloths like Scelidotherium and Glossotherium. The skeleton of Scelidotherium was found in one such burrow. Given their claws and powerful arms, it is not surprising that extinct sloths could dig burrows.Today giant clams play host to various fish. Specimens of the giant Cretaceous clam Platyceramus are often found in the chalk formations of Kansas. These clams are 1-2 meters in length. About nine unique types of fossil fish have been found within these fossil shells. Any given shell specimen may contain several dozen individual fish, which have presumably been trapped inside when the clam died.Modern sharks are known to have nursery areas, a shallow part of the ocean where shark eggs are laid and where juvenile sharks can live without being attacked by the large predators, including other sharks. The Gatun Formation in Panama preserves many Miocene marine fossils, of which the most notable is large numbers of Megalodon teeth. One particular quarry contains a high concentration of very small Megalodon teeth and very few large teeth. Comparing these small teeth to Megalodon teeth from various developmental stages, investigators in 2010 concluded that these are teeth from juveniles, consistent with Gatun being a nursery area. In 2020 a similar site was discovered in Spain, confirming the idea of Megalodons using nursery areas.It is known that many wasps lay eggs inside the larvae or adults of other insects, such that the wasp larvae eats the victim from the inside out, leaving the vital organs for last. Vast numbers of cocooned fossil larvae from the Paleogene, about 3-4 millimeters long, were discovered in a phosphite mine in France. These specimens were described in 1940, but were not CT-scanned until 2018. Unexpectedly, dozens of these cocoons contain within them perfectly preserved wasp larvae and adults. These wasps were given the genus name Xenomorpha after the “Alien” movies.As there are coprolites, there are also trace fossils called urolites, which are evidence of animals urinating. A particular trace fossil from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil shows a crater-like pit and ripple-like streamers. This type of mark can be produced by pouring liquid onto a sand dune. Urinating ostriches make similar mark. An even larger (3 meters long) similar urolite from Late Jurassic Colorado and may represent a urinating sauropod.I would not call this book particularly detailed in its paleontological discussions, since it is aimed toward a general scientifically-literate audience, but not particularly toward serious hobbyists or students. However, I still learned about many unfamiliar fossils, and I recommend it highly.

Early in Locked in Time, paleontologist Dean R. Lomax observes that there are very few fossils showing dinosaurs locked in combat. We know they battled each other, as bitemarks, coprolites (fossilized feces) and stomach contents reveal as much. But specimens of dinosaurs “caught in the act” are rare.It’s this desire to not only find fossils, but find the rarest fossils capturing the most fascinating of acts that informs Locked in Time. The book’s main thesis is that fossils which show actual kinetic behaviors caught midmotion might reveal new truths to science, and correct old errors.Is it possible, for instance, that a supposedly feelingless dinosaur may have actually spent long periods of time caring for its young, a behavior we usually associate with mammals? Were some creatures previously thought to be herbivores in actual fact meat eaters? And is the old supposition that mammals were mostly prey during the age of dinosaurs an assumption that needs more investigating, an overdue corrective? A specist chauvinism undoubtedly makes me as a homo sapiens wish it were so, but Locked in Time actually proves it to be the case.Dr. Lomax’s book dives into ethology of ancient animals of all species, using fifty remarkable fossils to tell the stories of creatures that once walked the Earth. Most of their descendants are also still with us, which makes the book not only essential reading for paleontologists but for those with a general interest in biology.The text is informative without being especially dense, and detailed drawings by illustrator Bob Nicholls help bring the long-extinct bestiary back to life. The book is divided into five sections, each covering a different key area of animal behavior, everything from sex to self-defense to excretion.Yes, you read that last part right. Many dinosaurs not only defecated and urinated but they in fact flatulated. Some of their smaller contemporaries even farted a poisonous gas which could paralyze their potential prey.There’s no doubt that nature many times is absurd and cruel, but it’s also full of limitless wonders that can continue to illumine our world for us. It’s all here, the good, the shocking, the bad, the gross and the nigh-miraculous.Dean Lomax and Bob Nicholls both do their best to shine on a light on the far-distant past, and stare unflinchingly into the eyes of the long-dead. Recommended.

The book is undoubtedly an enjoyable reading experience. Read other posts to see why others rated the book as a 5. I'll list reasons why I feel it is deserving of a 4. 1. Casual writing style. Perhaps I'm too harsh, but I don't particularly enjoy folksy writing in a work of this nature. 2. Too little writing. The book is 253 pages (minus Acknowledgments, etc.). Of those pages, almost half are either photo or artistic renditions or blank portions of pages. 3. Lacks depth. The selection of fossil finds and how they contribute to our understanding of behavior is well done. My issue is that species are introduced, given some specific attribute, and then we move on to the following example. I would have preferred more significant development of the species in terms of longevity, distribution, and ancestral linkages. So, selecting specific examples and grouping by behaviors is well done. It just seems to fall short of my expectation of what I anticipated.

Palaeontology - the study of the ancient life - is sometimes seen as a dry, dusty subject, and old-fashioned museums populated by fossils with little information other than their names and origin do little to dispel this image. Those of us who work in the field know that it is a dynamic, rapidly developing science which is expanding our knowledge and understanding of the rich and complex history of life on our planet rapidly as new finds are made and new techniques are developed to reveal their secrets.Palaeontology – and perhaps all science – tells us stories. Some of those stories are on an epic scale encompassing unimaginably long stretches of time and the accumulation of a vast number of the tiny changes which drive evolution and lead to the richness and diversity of life. Against this background it is easy to forget that every fossil, be it the mightiest dinosaur or any one of the millions upon millions of small shells which can be found in most rocks was once a living organism. Each one has a story to tell. Most of these stories are of a brief, uneventful life but some offer us a window into events which happened over a few weeks, days or even minutes millions of years ago.These exceptional fossils are the subject of this book and add more than just flesh to ancient bones. We can find out how animals behaved, moved, fed, hunted and reproduced. They tell of tragedies such as that of a solitary horseshoe crab crawling along a sea floor until it died, of a dinosaur parent protecting its nest of eggs and being engulfed by a sandstorm, of mammoths locked in combat and succumbing to their injuries and many more. There are tales of sex, of death, of disease and even farting – all part of the rich tapestry of life.The book is split into five chapters each covering a different aspect of the fossil record, such as sex, parental care, biting and feeding and so on. Dean gives background information such as where and when the fossil was found, what sort of world in lived in and goes from there to describe the specimen. He explains the evidence from which conclusions are reached and is careful to include alternative explanations for what can be seen. This is for me one of the most fascinating aspects of palaeontology, the detective work which reveals the unknown. The fossils themselves take centre stage, and some of them are spectacular. Dinsosaurs locked in combat, a huge fish with a smaller fish preserved in its belly, or an ichthyosaur giving birth. Others seem insignificant, but when subject to intense scrutiny reveal amazing stories. Faint traces on the surface of a piece of shale can be the remains of a predatory worm and its last meal. Bone fragments in a coprolite (fossil poo) shows how a predator was able to smach and swallow even the strongest bones of its prey.The book is illustrated by Bob Nicholls, an artist who is highly respected for the meticulous research and thought he gives to his images and who has worked closely with many palaeontologists. He has co-authored several scientific papers through such collaboration. The pictures are accurate and detailed and add life to descriptions of the animals.I’d recommend this book to anyone with an interest in fossils. Dean writes well, and explains clearly what can been seen as a rather intimidating subject. It that our modern science is no longer devoted to just collecting, describing and displaying fossils but a dynamic and ever-changing discipline.

What a fantastic book- a fascinating glimpse into the world of palaeontology, and not just dinosaur fossils (although there is plenty here for the dino enthusiast), but fossils of mammals, fish, even insects! Each chapter is about a particular fossil find, and they all have a clear explanation of their great significance to science and what thay have told us about the past (including some wonderful artists' impressions about how the moment caught in time might have looked). This is a book for adults and children. I'm currently reading selected chapters to my class of 9-11 year olds, who are loving it, but it is aimed as much at the adult reader.Dean Lomax's passion for the subject is infectious. It's mind-blowing stuff, and highly recommended!

The 50 essays in this book give an insight both in the ordinary life of extinct organisms, and in some extraordinary moments they had to face. Birth and fight, but also simply sitting down for a rest or bodily functions that don't end in coprolites...Every fossil is explained in a way that non-experts can easily understand. It's tone is factual and no-nonsense, but vibrant and with real respect and empathy for the unlucky beasts that met an untimely end, so we could learn a bit more about their life and behaviour. Actually, the book would make a great alternative to the usual 'bedtime stories'.You'll meet insects, mammals, fish, reptiles, and of course dinosaurs, although the role T.rex has to play might surprise you...

This was a really well written book, the author explained straight away what it wasn't - ie a fossils text book. It was a very enjoyable discussion of the behaviour that could be worked out from the evidence contained in selected fossils. The accompanying illustrations were beautifully drawn imagings of the behaviour. I know thius will be a book I will reread and probably sooner rather than later.

I am an incredibly reluctant and slow reader but finished this book in one weekend which is a personal accomplishment as I always rely on audio books. I absolutely loved it, it was so informative and very well written. I really liked all the scientific terms as well as explanations and it goes without saying the illustrations were fantastic and really helps the reader to picture the scenario whilst bringing the fossils to life. The short stories of each fossil were well explained and, for me, made it so much easier to read and keep my focus - in fact I couldn’t put it down (I know that’s cliche but it’s true). This book had me lost in a prehistoric world and I didn’t want it to end. (Photo by me @prehistoricmodels on Instagram)