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or otherwise accommodating his anatomical attributes. Such shuffling also
might have left an elongated drag mark or more intermittent bounce marks
(from his tail, that is).
• The resumption of normal diagonal walking patterns, with hers showing a
morerapidpacetogetawayfromherpartner,andhisshowingdeeperfront
tracks as his weight was properly redistributed upon dismounting.
• A resting trace connected to his tracks, post-coitus.
Of course, for mating traces to get preserved in the first place, such activities
should have taken place in environments with the right sediments to mold every
little (or not so little) parry, thrust, twitch, shudder, or shrug. Among the best envir-
onmentsforregisteringthesetraceswouldhavebeenriverfloodplainsorshorelines
with firm mud or sand. On the other hand, the worst places to have made a lasting
mark for future generations of humans to see would have been in trees, water bod-
ies—especially if doing it while floating above a lake or river bottom—or burrows.
So with these search images in mind and an active lust for such trace fossils,
paleontologists should have all of the right tools for ensuring their explorations all
have happy endings. Here's to getting lucky.
Dinosaur Eggs, Over Easy
Dinosaurmatingsurelyhappenedmanytimesduringtheir165-million-yearhistory,
and more than a few of those couplings successfully resulted in fertilized eggs
getting laid by dinosaur mothers. So are dinosaur eggs—which are normally pre-
servedasfossileggshellsandfilledwithsediment—consideredtracefossilsorbody
fossils? One would think these and eggshell material in general would qualify as
trace fossils, because they seem like indirect evidence that doesn't involve any ob-
vious body parts, except for rare instances when they also hold embryonic dinosaur
bones.
Nonetheless, eggs and eggshells are actually body fossils. The reason why is
because eggshells served as extra body parts for developing embryos (similar to
how skin functioned in an adult dinosaur), protecting softer parts inside while also
