Page 15 - Introduction to Paleobiology and The Fossil Record

2 INTRODUCTION TO PALEOBIOLOGY AND THE FOSSIL RECORD

Scientists argue about what is science and
what is not. Ernest Rutherford famously had
a very low opinion of anything that was not
mathematics or physics, and so he regarded
all of biology and geology (including paleon-
tology) as “stamp collecting”, the mere record-
ing of details and stories. But is this true?
Most criticism in paleontology is aimed at
the reconstruction of ancient plants and
animals. Surely no one will ever know what
color dinosaurs were, what noises they made?
How could a paleontologist work out how
many eggs Tyrannosaurus laid, how long it
took for the young to grow to adult size, the (a)
differences between males and females? How
could anyone work out how an ancient animal
hunted, how strong its bite force was, or even
what kinds of prey it ate? Surely it is all specu-
lation because we can never go back in time
and see what was happening?
These are questions about paleobiology
and, surprisingly, a great deal can be inferred
from fossils. Fossils, the remains of any ancient
organism, may look like random pieces of rock (b)
in the shape of bones, leaves or shells, but they Figure 1.1 People love to collect fossils. Many
can yield up their secrets to the properly trained professional paleontologists got into the fi eld
scientist. Paleontology, the study of the life of because of the buzz of fi nding something
the past, is like a crime scene investigation – beautiful that came from a plant or animal that
there are clues here and there, and the paleon- died millions of years ago. Fossils such as these
tologist can use these to understand something tiny fishes from the Eocene of Wyoming (a),

about an ancient plant or animal, or a whole may amaze us by their abundance, or like the
fauna or fl ora, the animals or plants that lived lacewing fly in amber (b), by the exquisite detail

together in one place at one time. of their preservation. (Courtesy of Sten Lennart
In this chapter we will explore the methods Jakobsen.)
of paleontology, starting with the debate
about how dinosaurs are portrayed in fi lms,
and then look more widely at the other kinds came from, where humans came from,
of inferences that may be made from fossils. where the Earth and universe came from.
But first, just what is paleontology for? Why These have been questions in philosophy,

should anyone care about it? religion and science for thousands of years
and paleontologists have a key role (see
pp. 117–20). Despite the spectacular prog-
PALEONTOLOGY IN THE MODERN WORLD
ress of paleontology, earth sciences and
What is the use of paleontology? A few astronomy over the last two centuries,
decades ago, the main purpose was to date many people with fundamentalist religious
rocks. Many paleontology textbooks justifi ed beliefs deny all natural explanations of
the subject in terms of utility and its contribu- origins – these debates are clearly seen as
tion to industry. Others simply said that fossils hugely important.
are beautiful and people love to look at them 2 Curiosity about different worlds. Science

and collect them (Fig. 1.1). But there is more fiction and fantasy novels allow us to think
than that. We identify six reasons why people about worlds that are different from what
should care about paleontology: we see around us. Another way is to study
paleontology – there were plants and
1 Origins. People want to know where life animals in the past that were quite unlike