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interest on the part of other paleontologists; as of 2006, there really were very few
dinosaur tracks or other trace fossils known from there.
Just for comparison, let's take a look at other continents and their dinosaur
trace fossils. In North America, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have tens of thou-
sands of dinosaur tracks and plenty of other trace fossils, such as nests, gastroliths,
toothmarks,andcoprolites.SouthAmerica?Thesame.Africa,Europe,Asia?Ditto.
But as of my writing this, no dinosaur nests have been reported from Australia. Not
even body fossils associated with dinosaur nests—such as eggshell fragments and
embryonic bones—are known from there either, let alone egg clutches. No research
has been done on Australian dinosaur gastroliths. In all of Australia, not one study
has been done on dinosaur toothmarks. Not a single dinosaur coprolite has been in-
terpreted. It's almost as if the dinosaurs in Australia didn't give a crap.
So what caused Australia to become so poor in dinosaur trace fossils, ranking
only above Antarctica in quality and quantity? Dinosaurs certainly lived there, as
evidenced bytheropodandornithopodbonesandteeth recovered fromEarly Creta-
ceous strata (120-105
mya
) in Victoria, and theropod, ornithopod, and sauropod
bones in central Queensland. The latter area is now bursting with Early Cretaceous
dinosaurskeletal material, reminding paleontologists ofthebeginningofthe“Great
DinosaurBoneRush”duringthelate19thcenturyinthewesternU.S.Still,whyare
theirtracks,nests,gastroliths,toothmarks,andcoprolitessorare?Orisitjustanap-
parentscarcity,acombination ofwrongconditionsforpreservingthesetracefossils
in most of the Mesozoic rocks there as well as not knowing what to look for?
The answer is probably complicated. Regardless, the best way to reach for it
was to get out, walk around, and look for trace fossils in the rocks there.
Back to the Cretaceous
ItwasafinedayontheVictoriacoast,startedbycrispmorningtemperatures,amild
breeze, and overcast conditions, but with no signs of the antipodal winter thunder-
storms—accompanied by rain, gusting winds, and powerful waves—that had kept
us off the coastal outcrops for much of the previous week. Earlier that morning,
