Ichnofossils, also known as trace fossils, are geological records of biological activity rather than preserved body parts, encompassing structures such as burrows, tracks, trails, borings, and coprolites. They provide direct evidence of organism behavior, ethology, and organism–substrate interactions, often where body fossils are absent. Ichnofossil analysis underpins ichnology and is used to interpret paleoenvironmental conditions, substrate consistency, energy regimes, and bioturbation intensity. Because ichnofossils are typically preserved in situ, they are critical for refining depositional models, sequence stratigraphy, and basin analysis, and for constraining the distribution, locomotion, and trophic strategies of ancient benthic and nektonic communities.
The Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute reports a Lower Devonian (419 to 393 million years ago) fossilized trackway in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, attributed to dipnoan fish. Their analysis finds ...
Footprints of a multispecies herd of dinosaurs discovered in Canada demonstrate the social interaction between different dinosaur species 76 million years ago, according to findings in a new study published in the journal ...
Ecology
Jul 23, 2025
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Ancient footprints found near the shores of Portugal's Algarve region are giving us fresh insights into the lives of coastal-dwelling Neanderthals. An international study led by Carlos Neto de Carvalho of the University of ...
The Cambrian Explosion is a landmark moment in the history of life on Earth when many of the major groups of animals first appear in the fossil record.
Paleontology & Fossils
Jul 10, 2025
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An international team has found that equations to determine the speed of a moving dinosaur based on prints in trackways may be inaccurate. In their study published in the journal Biology Letters, the group urged test guineafowl ...
