Moments in time

Palaeo Jam

When we think of palaeontology, we often think of the giant bones of dinosaurs assembled in museums. And when not thinking of the bones, we’re often enamoured by the size of fossilised teeth such as those of T.rex, Megalodon, Mosasaurs and other leviathans. There are more things than fossilise, though, than the bones and teeth. Trace fossils are the fossils of activity. They are evidence of something an animal did in the past. They include fossilised footprints, teeth marks, burrows, and poop, and they each have a fascinating story to tell.

In this episode of Palaeo Jam, host Michael Mills is joined by Dr Aaron Camens and Fraser Brown, to discuss several different types of trace fossils, and the stories and moments those fossils are able to reveal.

Dr Aaron Camens is a lecturer in palaeontology at Flinders University. You can follow Aaron on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DiprotoRon, and check out his Flinders University profile at https://sites.flinders.edu.au/palaeontology/home/people/academics/aaron-camens/

Amongst his extensive research work, Aaron co-authored a paper on fossilised footprints on the volcanic plains in Victoria, Australia: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379110004178

He was also co-author of a paper on fossilised bite marks on the volcanic plains in Victoria, Australia: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0052957

Fraser Brown is an Honours student studying palaeontology at Flinders University.

You can follow Fraser on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FgBrown01, and check his Flinders University profile at https://blogs.flinders.edu.au/stem/2021/10/19/student-profile-fraser-brown/

This link from the Paleontological Research Instituion provides a short illustrated summary of the differences between body fossils and trace fossils: https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/nature-fossil-record/body-fossils-trace-fossils/