Tag: Book recommendation

***** Beautifully presented

Back in 2021, palaeontologist Dean Lomax impressed me with Locked in Time, a popular science book that looked at the behaviour of extinct animals as revealed by a selection of extraordinary fossils. Showing that there is more to be said on the topic, he now returns with The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs, which features another tranche of remarkable fossils. More than just a sequel, this book improves on its predecessor in several respects.

Since the publication of Locked in Time, there have been several other popular books on trace fossils and the behaviour of extinct animals. I reviewed Michael J. Benton’s introductory guide Dinosaur Behavior and David Hone’s excellent Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior, while Jean Le Loeuff’s What Did Dinosaurs Think About? is on my radar. Anthony J. Martin, whose 2014 book on trace fossils, Dinosaurs Without Bones, merits mention in this context, returned in 2023 with Life Sculpted to look at trace fossils of bioerosion. Collectively, these books show what else you can do with this topic, so I was curious to see what tack Lomax would take this time.

Undeniably, The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs has all the appearances of being Locked in Time II. It follows the same formula: previously, we got 50 case studies under five subject headings; now we get another 49 case studies under eleven headings. Furthermore, in his introduction, Lomax adds that “You might even consider this a sort of sequel” (p. 1). Finally, when I interviewed Lomax back in 2021, he mentioned originally wanting to discuss 100 fossils but having to cut his selection in half. One fossil he regretted having to omit was the arthropod Aquilonifer spinosus, nicknamed the kite runner, that was found with its offspring tethered to its body by long filaments. That fossil here appears in chapter 3 as “Tethered Toddlers”. However, calling this book a mere sequel would be doing it a disservice: this is more than a compilation of the leftovers that missed the cut last time.

For starters, we can establish that the three strong points I highlighted last time are all still in effect. First, Lomax reiterates that not all interpretations of certain behaviours are uncontested. Though we have interesting evidence of swimming tracks made by small theropods, sauropod swimming tracks are more controversial, while palaeontologists continue to discuss whether the rocks swallowed by marine reptiles (gastroliths) acted as ballast or digestive aids. Second, Lomax continues to shine a light on the inner workings of palaeontology. When an excavator bucket cuts right through an elasmosaur fossil, he brushes this aside with a casual “These things happen” (p. 240). Several case studies show how certain fossil discoveries play out over decades of intermittent study and attempts to relocate historic dig sites. Third, Lomax continues to mix entertaining popular science writing that has lost none of its enthusiasm with gentle education. He still defines terminology on first use and continues to stress the relevance of studying animal behaviour today to understand animals of the past.

More importantly, The Secret Lives of Dinosaurs improves on its predecessor in several respects, most noticeably in its lush presentation. The publisher has thrown its full weight behind this book, printing it in colour on thicker paper stock. It is thus noticeably heavier than Locked in Time, even after accounting for its extra 54 pages. Bob Nicholls’s excellent artwork—and there is a lot of it—really pops this time around, while the numerous photos and illustrations of fossils are crisp and informative. One outstanding example of how this is put to good use is the section on the fossil evidence for caudal autotomy, i.e. the voluntary amputation of one’s tail, shown by many small reptiles today as a defence against predators. Page 117 shows two colour photos of a lizard fossil under visible and UV light, the latter revealing a regenerated, cartilaginous tail invisible to the naked eye. Another change is that all entries are slightly longer, increasing from an average of 4–5 pages to 5–7 pages. On several occasions, Lomax uses this to detail the chain of reasoning by which scientists eliminate competing explanations to arrive at their conclusions. How do you tell apart stomach contents from fossil embryos when a species is a known cannibal? Have we found evidence of ammonite eggs, or did another cephalopod repurpose empty ammonite shells? And how do you conclude that a combined trackway is evidence of two giant millipedes mating?

Finally, I think that more of the same, when done well, is not a bad thing. On that note, Lomax has again curated a collection of truly exceptional fossils. Though at least two case studies were discussed in Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior and that giant Tyrannosaurus rex turd featured in King Tyrant, much here was new to me. Never mind the title, this is about much more than just dinosaurs. Lomax jokes how one of the best ways of surviving in the fossil record is being eaten, as evidenced by descriptions of a new lizard and a new beetle species from respectively Microraptor stomach contents and coprolites from (likely) Silesaurus. And while the present often informs the past, sometimes the past reveals something about biology today, such as the discovery of an amber-encased fossil of a tiny springtail hitching a ride on a mayfly. Conventional wisdom had it that springtails spread via oceanic currents or aerial plankton; now we can add phoresy (the act of attaching oneself to a host organism to catch a free ride) to that list. Or take the footprint on a coprolite, showing that crocodilians, too, sometimes stepped in it. Or the scars on a plant leaf that, according to one team of researchers, exactly match those made by zombified ants today when they clamp their jaws down on a leaf vein just before dying and sprouting a fungus from their head. Yep, an unusual example of fossilised evidence of ant-fungal parasitism! It is hard to pick favourites with such a remarkable list of fossils.

How Lomax got Slash from Guns N’ Roses (!) to provide a blurb for the book? I am sure there is an interesting story here, but his praise, placed prominently on the cover, is one that I can echo. If you liked Locked in Time, this book is a no-brainer, improving on the execution of the concept. If you would like a novel kind of popular palaeontology book, whether for yourself or for somebody else, this book also comes highly recommended.

 

***** A nuanced and detailed overview

These fish-eating and sail-backed (well, some of them) predatory dinosaurs are as enigmatic as they are controversial, and writing a book about them means navigating both fragmentary remains and strongly held opinions. So, who better to tackle this challenge than two of the best names in the business? This thoughtful book brings together palaeontologists Dave Hone and Mark P. Witton to discuss everything we do and do not know about spinosaurs.

Hone & Witton are, I think, exceptionally well-suited to write a book about a controversial group where so much is still unknown or subject to revision. Next to a track record of popular science books on dinosaurs, both authors stand out for their careful and nuanced views. Spinosaur Tales is logically structured and flows well. In their preface, the authors pre-empt concerns about this book becoming obsolete by acknowledging that they “can only present a snapshot of spinosaur science as it races along in the winter of 2024” (p. 8). This is followed by twelve chapters that take a detailed tour through research on the family Spinosauridae. Rather than a chapter-by-chapter summary, I want to focus on why spinosaurs are such a controversial group to begin with, how Hone & Witton tackle this, and how they have written an outstanding book in the process.

One of the foremost reasons why spinosaurs are such a challenging group is their fragmentary fossil record: we have not a single complete skeleton. Partial skeletons are or were (Spinosaurus) available for some species, but many currently named species are contentious, based on fragmentary remains such as loose teeth, bits of jaw, and some vertebrae. Despite having been named over a century ago, “we are still forming the foundation of our knowledge” (p. 23).

Though this situation is not unique to spinosaurs, there are two further complicating factors. I just mentioned Spinosaurus in the past tense, and this leads into a remarkable bit of history in that Stromer’s original 1915 Egyptian Spinosaurus aegyptiacus fossil was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during WWII. All that remains are his drawings and descriptions, which continues to frustrate research to this day. The second problem is that some recent material has been bought from commercial fossil collectors who frequently do not record the geological context (i.e. the geological stratum and thus the age) of their finds and often only excavate the parts they can sell. The lack of standardised methods during such excavations means that vital scientific information continues to be lost, further hindering research.

Given these difficulties, our understanding of spinosaurs changes continuously. While certain past ideas might seem like howlers today, Hone & Witton provide nuanced historical context to clarify that they were reasonable given what we knew at the time. When described in 1986, Baryonyx walkeri was initially dismissed as a spinosaur. Similarly, a crocodilian origin for spinosaurs was long considered a possibility, based on the superficial anatomical resemblances between their skulls. A different sort of challenge is the celebrity status that spinosaurs attained in the 2000s, partially thanks to the movie Jurassic Park III, and partially to a relative glut of new finds. Spinosaur research is now newsworthy and thus a frequent subject of hype and exaggerated controversy. Online communities of dinosaur enthusiasts closely follow every academic volley and riposte and engage in “strongly worded discourse about their implications” (p. 18). A good example of this was the public unveiling of a new specimen from Morocco in 2014 that pushed the idea that Spinosaurus swam. Hone & Witton patiently but firmly consider this idea from multiple angles and show that, though we have several lines of evidence that Spinosaurus ate fish, it would have made a poor swimmer.

A consequence of this newfound fame is that spinosaur researchers are faced with questions “that demand simple answers, yet warrant complex, nuanced responses” (p. 287). I think that this, in a nutshell, beautifully describes what Hone & Witton have achieved here: Spinosaur Tales is a book-length exercise in nuanced responses. An important component of this, vital when writing a popular science book, is to familiarise readers with those aspects of palaeontology that its practitioners often take for granted. Most books fail to explain that the concept of a species differs in biology and palaeontology, something Hone & Witton thankfully clarify. Figuring out how many fossil species were distinct biological entities and whether the group was as diverse as we think is difficult. Similarly, I often feel that many books fail to emphasise that “fossilisation is a biasing, distorting process […] giving us partial, often skewed insights into ancient floras and faunas” (p. 107). The authors repeatedly remind you of the many caveats when interpreting this imperfect and incompletely sampled record.

Finally, the authors deserve praise for their progressive attitudes towards, and delicate handling of, the discipline’s historical baggage. Many past expeditions that collected important spinosaur material were “classic example[s] of scientific colonialism” (p. 53). There is similarly controversy over two proposed species from Brazil. With some remains now residing in a German museum, Hone & Witton are in favour of repatriation, both to clear up the taxonomic issue, but also to “rectify an injustice inflicted against Brazilian fossil heritage” (p. 51). And what to do with a historical figure such as naturalist Sir Richard Owen? Handle him delicately, I guess. Hone & Witton walk the fine line between acknowledging that he was at times a deeply unpleasant person who engaged in all sorts of skulduggery to advance his career, without erasing his significant achievements.

Witton is a professional palaeoartist, and this book benefits from a diverse selection of his illustrations. There is an eight-page colour plate section showcasing his well-known naturalistic artwork, while the diagrams of skulls and bones show his skills as a draughtsman. What caught my eye, however, are his black-and-white drawings that show life reconstructions and sit somewhere between doodles and comic book art. They reveal a different side to his artwork that I was not yet familiar with.

Overall, Spinosaur Tales is a thoughtful and accessible book about these enigmatic dinosaurs. It both explains why spinosaurs are such a difficult group to study, and then rises to the challenge by presenting a nuanced overview of what we know, what we can reasonably infer, and what is spin.