Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs by Dr. Phil Manning

Author:Dr. Phil Manning
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2008-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE CHEMISTRY OF DEATH

“I consider nature a vast chemical laboratory in which all kinds of composition and decompositions are formed.”

—Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

DAKOTA PRESENTED MANY PROBLEMS for the science team to solve, not least of which was how such remarkable preservation had occurred. To lock an animal in such a state, by-products of decay had to balance the preservation process. The balance commonly occurs when most soft tissues have been “chewed up” by microbial activity, freeing enough organic carbon, iron, and other decay products to preserve more resistant skeletal elements. Here, though, was a paradox: we had a skin envelope, so where did the materials to preserve our dinosaur come from? How do you keep a carcass from collapsing? To help explain this, let me use the example of a dead cow I once found out on the prairie.

The cow carcass looked in a sorry state; it had been dead a few weeks. The stomach contents had spilled around the carcass, yielding a halo. Coyotes had devoured the animal’s rear end, consuming soft flesh from the inside out rather than chewing through tough hide. Loose skin draped over the uncollapsed skeleton like a poorly fitting shroud. The landscape and nearby scavengers were in the process of recycling the carcass. A month later, all that remained were bleached white bones scattered around a wide area and a lush island of vegetation where the carcass had once lain. This was one animal that was never going to make it into the fossil record.

The decomposing remains of plants and animals provide a high-quality source of essential molecules of life, including carbon and nutrients (e.g., nitrogen and phosphorus). Small animals are usually dispatched quickly with few remains left to mark the landscape, given most will have been processed in the digestive tracts of predators. Larger animals take more reprocessing and can make a significant impact on the microenvironment associated with a cadaver. The death of a large vertebrate in many environments can provide an oasis of energy in an otherwise low-energy system. Many species’ life cycles are inextricably tied to death and reprocessing. Before we can understand the grave secrets of our mummy, we will have to take an unpleasant journey into the world of forensic taphonomy.

The decomposition of animals in terrestrial environments has not received that much attention, since most studies delve into the litter of plant life. However, animals, especially large ones, leave sizable bodies to decompose and be recycled in the environment in which they perish. Several tons of dinosaur would have been a significant feast for the organisms whose life cycles depended upon such mortality.

Ivan Efremov (1907-1972) can be considered the father of taphonomy, since his groundbreaking work in 1940 invented this specific approach to paleontology. Most studies since then have been undertaken by organizations like the FBI, who have a keen interest in the grave secrets of humans, especially those who end up in shallow graves as a result of foul play. Diagnosing the length of time and time of year that a body was buried can be crucial to solving a grisly crime.

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