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I have tried to do above. Nonetheless, I expect such trace fossils, including those
that precede mating (“wooing” traces, so to speak), will be eventually found and
identified, adding to our understanding of what were very likely complex dinosaur
sex lives.
In short, the story at the start of this chapter and the myriad dinosaur trace
fossils that contributed to its creation demonstrate the huge advantages afforded by
thesesometimes-underappreciated recordsofdinosaurs'dailylives.Themainpoint
of the rest of this topic, then, is to justify a shift in perspective and start thinking of
traces. In other words, after this topic, you will no longer just visualize mounted di-
nosaurskeletonsinamuseum.Instead,youwillthinkofthoseskeletonscoveredby
muscles, tendons, and skin, then moving, breathing, mating, eating, fighting, swim-
ming,takingcareoftheiryoung,andotherbehaviors,andoftracesleftbythesebe-
haviors.Youwillalsothinkaboutthenumberandvarietyoftraces dinosaurswould
have left behind during their normal lifespans, from infancy to old age, and real-
ize how these marks would far outnumber any of their bones. Once you've done all
of that imagining, you're ready to look deeper at dinosaur trace fossils, a different
wayofthinkingthat'sguaranteedtochangewhatyouthoughtyouknewaboutthese
long-extinct but ever-popular animals.
