Vain men try to leave a trace in history by publishing books. They would be more wise to dig themselves a hole in the ground. After libraries have burned, and university campuses grown over with weed, a trace of this hole, now filled, will remain in soil.
Every animal that digs a hole is immortalised this way. The record of burrow traces tells of single individuals and of whole species, of animal homes and of landscapes, of animal behaviour and of their mode of life.
Rarely in palaeontology does one meet with an object that tells so much of an animal’s habits. Yet even if you are a paleontologist or a geologist, you may not have heard of burrow casts. This exhibit is a window on a little studied topic in palaeontology, geology, and soil science.
