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Dean R. Lomax

Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils Hardcover – May 18, 2021

by Dean R. Lomax (Author), Robert Nicholls (Author)

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Fossils allow us to picture the forms of life that inhabited the earth eons ago. But we long to know more: how did these animals actually behave? We are fascinated by the daily lives of our fellow creatures―how they reproduce and raise their young, how they hunt their prey or elude their predators, and more. What would it be like to see prehistoric animals as they lived and breathed?

From dinosaurs fighting to their deaths to elephant-sized burrowing ground sloths, this book takes readers on a global journey deep into the earth’s past. Locked in Time showcases fifty of the most astonishing fossils ever found, brought together in five fascinating chapters that offer an unprecedented glimpse at the real-life behaviors of prehistoric animals. Dean R. Lomax examines the extraordinary direct evidence of fossils captured in the midst of everyday action, such as dinosaurs sitting on their eggs like birds, Jurassic flies preserved while mating, a T. rex infected by parasites. Each fossil, he reveals, tells a unique story about prehistoric life. Many recall behaviors typical of animals familiar to us today, evoking the chain of evolution that links all living things to their distant ancestors. Locked in Time allows us to see that fossils are not just inanimate objects: they can record the life stories of creatures as fully alive as any today. Striking and scientifically rigorous illustrations by renowned paleoartist Bob Nicholls bring these breathtaking moments to life.

Print length

296 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Columbia University Press
Publication date

May 18, 2021
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

0231197284
ISBN-13

978-0231197281
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Editorial Reviews

Review

A rousing romp through the fossil record. Dean R. Lomax's storytelling and Bob Nicholls's artwork reanimate the lifestyles and behaviors of long-extinct species. Revel along as old bones, teeth, and footprints tell the tale of dinosaur mating dances, fighting mammoths, and pterodactyl nurseries. -- Steve Brusatte, University of Edinburgh paleontologist and New York Times best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

Vividly told with stunning illustrations, Locked in Time is an essential book for any fossil fan. From the ancient steps of a horseshoe crab to courting dinosaurs, Lomax and Nicholls achieve the closest thing to time travel in bringing the prehistoric back to life. -- Riley Black, author of Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone

When we think about the animals of the past, we’re drawn to a small handful of movie dinosaurs, but in this fascinating and engaging book, Lomax brings to life incredible moments in the lives of animals from throughout prehistory, discovering the universal in the specific and offering us an insight into our sense of place on this planet. While being immersed in scientific literature, Lomax has a gift for extracting events from millions of years ago and giving them meaning for everyone today. -- Ellie Harrison, presenter of Dinosaur Britain

A beetle within a lizard within a snake, a giant beaver that made huge corkscrew burrows three meters deep, a mammal that ate dinosaurs, insects caught in the act of mating, and dinosaurs with cancer . . . Dean R. Lomax presents an extraordinary tour through recent fossil discoveries that shed light on all aspects of the life of the past. These extraordinary scenarios are brought to life in exquisite reconstructions by Bob Nicholls. These are fossils that don’t make it into the textbooks; your appreciation of the history of life will never be the same again! -- Michael J. Benton, professor of vertebrate paleontology, University of Bristol

A number of exceptional, spectacular fossils show―via the most direct evidence imaginable―that the extinct animals of the past were once very much alive. They preserve animals giving birth, swallowing prey, and even having sex. Others reveal cases where animals died from poisoning, choking, or even when locked in combat. Join Dr. Dean Lomax in this beautifully illustrated, thoroughly researched but accessibly written tour of animals forever locked in time. -- Darren Naish, coauthor of Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved

’Locked in Time’ offers an unprecedented glimpse into the real-life behaviours of prehistoric animals. It has been meticulously researched and Dr [Dean] Lomax is a most eloquent and well-informed tour guide. Renowned palaeoartist Bob Nicholls provides the sumptuous illustrations that brings Dean’s narrative to life. ― Everything Dinosaur

A strikingly illustrated study that will have immense value and appeal for both paleontology students and non-specialist general readers alike, 'Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils' is impressively well written and thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation. Exceptionally well informed and informative, 'Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils' is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community, college and university library Paleontology collections and supplemental studies curriculums. ― Midwest Book Review

Buckle up - it's a journey. ― Inverse

Fascinating and highly recommended. ― AIPT Science

Lomax is an easy narrator, deftly weaving personal reminiscence and passion among the paleontological facts. There’s an abundance of ‘impeccable, large illustrations and photographs.’ I had a blast with this book. -- Ola G ― Re-enchantment of the World

This informative, educational, and entertaining book will make a good addition to the paleontology aficionado’s library. ― Fossil News

Fully achieves what it sets out to do: educate and entertain. ― Quarterly Review of Biology

A captivating and accessible read...Highly recommended. ― Choice

[Lomax] covers 50 extraordinary fossils, in five fascinating chapters that offer an unprecedented glimpse at the real-life behaviours of prehistoric animals. The book is illustrated by striking and scientifically rigorous illustrations by renowned palaeoartist Bob Nicholls. A great read for those interested in ancient life. ― Deposits Magazine

About the Author

Dean R. Lomax is an internationally recognized paleontologist, author, television presenter, and science communicator. He is currently a visiting scientist at the University of Manchester and is a leading authority on ichthyosaurs. His books include Dinosaurs of the British Isles (2014) and Prehistoric Pets (2020).

Bob Nicholls is a world-renowned natural history artist who specializes in the reconstruction of prehistoric animals, plants, and environments. His illustrations and models have been published in more than forty books and exhibited in over forty museums, universities, and visitor attractions around the world.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia University Press (May 18, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 296 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0231197284
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0231197281
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.19 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #88,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #18 in Biology of Fossils
- #46 in Paleontology (Books)
- #47 in Animal Behavior & Communication

Customer Reviews:
245 ratings

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Dean R. Lomax

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Dr Dean Lomax is an internationally recognised multi-award-winning palaeontologist, author and science communicator. Travelling around the world, he works on many fascinating projects from excavating dinosaurs, to discovering and naming new species and even winning a gold medal for excellence in science. In 2021, he led the excavation of the 'Rutland Sea Dragon', a 10-metre-long complete ichthyosaur skeleton found in the UK.

Passionate about communicating palaeontology with the public, Dean appears regularly on TV as an expert and presenter, including for the primetime series, Dinosaur Britain. He has written several books, many academic papers and popular articles, is a leading world authority on ichthyosaurs and completed his PhD at The University of Manchester, England. Dean is a patron of the UK Association of Fossil Hunters (UKAFH) and Mary Anning Rocks. Follow him on social media @dean_r_lomax and visit his website at: www.deanrlomax.co.uk.

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Leelan Lampkins

More fun than I expected!

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2021

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So many books on dinosaurs and prehistory can be put into two distant and distinct categories, either a cute kid's book with little science or respect for the reader or a book as dry as dust that is simply exercise for the author to show off how much he knows about every feature to be found in and around a fossil skull. Lomax drives this book right up the middle. It is fun and informative. And there are fantastic illustrations by Bob Nicholls that complement the text in each chapter. I don't know about you, but I am tired of dinosaurs as movie monsters like we see in Jurassic World. I want to see these creatures as living breathing animals. Not bloodthirsty B-movie cutouts. And you will not believe the last two chapters! Fossil farts and dino pee! I read both to my wife on our commute home and she enjoyed them as much as I did. If Dr Dean Lomax will keep writing books like this, he can just sign me up for the next one. Interesting information, new ideas and humor --- what else could we ask for?

8 people found this helpful

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R. Navarro

It’s the little things. Always the little things.

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2021

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I’m not a paleontologist. I’m just a retired blue collar schmuck that enjoys dinosaurs. Lomax’s book really delivers the goods. This book introduces the reader to dinosaurs previously unknown, and perhaps more importantly, introduces animal behavior explained in the fossil and connected to living animal behavior. His chapters discuss Dino sex (don’t worry, it’s appropriately G-rated), parental care, fighting, and even the humorously weird like Dino farts. (I can’t wait to tell my grandson about that over dinner!) Plenty of photos with helpful arrows pointing out important details.

And not to be overlooked are illustrator Bob Nicholls’s drawings. Once you’ve read about an animal’s behavior, the artwork really helps your mind piece together what you’ve learned. (Spoiler Alert: The chapter on Hell Pigs - or the Archaeotherium, coupled with the illustration, could have easily displaced the famed velociraptors of Jurassic Park movie fame!)

I’m such a fan of this book I ordered Lomax’s Ten Things book before I was finished with this book, and have now subscribed to his podcast.

2 people found this helpful

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'stashgal

What you don't know about langerstatins.

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2021

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This book is about a story of extinct life trapped in stone that tells a story about it's life & death.
Fighting dinosaurs trapped in the act, a line of trilobites caught while migrating, the meat pile of the terror pig & many more beautifully & accurately illistrated by an expert paleontolical artist & there are many photos of those fossils.
The fossil record has trapped life in the act of living & dying, something that is very rare. Of all the billions of living things that have died, only a small fraction are fossilized & too many fossils are lost to errosion, even fewer are found by someone who knows what they are looking at & can properly extract them for science & museums.
This book is a treasure of our living past, get it!

3 people found this helpful

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J. D.

This Book has Massive Printer Error

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2021

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I gave this book a five star rating because the fault is not with the author but instead with the Publisher/Printer.
My copy has pages 1-38 intact, then skips to pages 87-134, then back to pages 87-end of book. Missing 49 pages and duplicates 47 pages. How does something like this happen? Published by Columbia University Press and Printed in the US.
Edit: Got my new copy after a swift and efficient Amazon exchange and I am delighted. A Five star book for vertebrate fossil enthusiasts.

4 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

I LOVE THIS BOOK I have both hardback & Kindle

Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2021

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I am loving every bit of this book!

If you want to read about INCREDIBLE fossils that tell stories of how truly ancient animals actually lived & died, this is the book for you. Dr. Dean Lomax has painstakingly compiled 50 stories told by stunning fossils. Each is skillfully illustrated by Bob Nichols depicting the scene portrayed by the fossils.
The absolutely fabulous fossils depicting Icthyosaur Moms who sadly died in childbirth are one of the most poignant of the fossils.
Baby Icthyosaurs are called ICKLETS! How cute is that?
If you are interested in finding more about how fossils tell stories of lives past, this is the book for you!

One person found this helpful

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Robert C. Rettke

Surprising behavior and life situations shown by fossils.

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2021

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Even though fossils are the remains or traces of once-living things, some fossils have surprising things to tell about their lives as well as their deaths. In text by Dean R. Lomax and illustrations by Bob Nicholls the reader is introduced to fossil animals caught in the act of having sex, giving birth to live young, brooding their eggs, fighting, capturing prey; as well as evidence for wounds, infestation by parasites, and disease. It's rather like a nature documentary of the prehistoric past. If you are a fan of such documentaries, this book will probably be well worth its price.

One person found this helpful

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Glenda H.

Well illustrated.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2022

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Each chapter features one fossil, is only a few pages long, and has excellent photos with arrows or circles on them so I didn't miss anything. Below the photo is the fossil location; I've seen some of these in Kansas and Wyoming and plan to make sure I include some others on my next trip. Clear explanations. Lots of variety - insects, aquatic life, early birds, early mammals, dinosaurs. Some very unique stuff like dino pee depressions, and bug farts fossilzed in tree sap. Yep! Would buy it again, fun read, good gift.

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Top reviews from other countries

Nick the Geek

A fantastic tour through some landmark fossils!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 6, 2021

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What a fantastic book- a fascinating glimpse into the world of palaeontology, and not just dinosaur fossils (although there is plenty here for the dino enthusiast), but fossils of mammals, fish, even insects! Each chapter is about a particular fossil find, and they all have a clear explanation of their great significance to science and what thay have told us about the past (including some wonderful artists' impressions about how the moment caught in time might have looked).

This is a book for adults and children. I'm currently reading selected chapters to my class of 9-11 year olds, who are loving it, but it is aimed as much at the adult reader.
Dean Lomax's passion for the subject is infectious.
It's mind-blowing stuff, and highly recommended!

3 people found this helpful

Christine Kuhn

Fascinating stories for palaeontology fans aged 9-99

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2021

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The 50 essays in this book give an insight both in the ordinary life of extinct organisms, and in some extraordinary moments they had to face. Birth and fight, but also simply sitting down for a rest or bodily functions that don't end in coprolites...
Every fossil is explained in a way that non-experts can easily understand. It's tone is factual and no-nonsense, but vibrant and with real respect and empathy for the unlucky beasts that met an untimely end, so we could learn a bit more about their life and behaviour. Actually, the book would make a great alternative to the usual 'bedtime stories'.
You'll meet insects, mammals, fish, reptiles, and of course dinosaurs, although the role T.rex has to play might surprise you...

One person found this helpful

Richard Forrest

A book for anyone with an interest in the history of life on our planet

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2021

Verified Purchase

Palaeontology - the study of the ancient life - is sometimes seen as a dry, dusty subject, and old-fashioned museums populated by fossils with little information other than their names and origin do little to dispel this image. Those of us who work in the field know that it is a dynamic, rapidly developing science which is expanding our knowledge and understanding of the rich and complex history of life on our planet rapidly as new finds are made and new techniques are developed to reveal their secrets.
Palaeontology – and perhaps all science – tells us stories. Some of those stories are on an epic scale encompassing unimaginably long stretches of time and the accumulation of a vast number of the tiny changes which drive evolution and lead to the richness and diversity of life. Against this background it is easy to forget that every fossil, be it the mightiest dinosaur or any one of the millions upon millions of small shells which can be found in most rocks was once a living organism. Each one has a story to tell. Most of these stories are of a brief, uneventful life but some offer us a window into events which happened over a few weeks, days or even minutes millions of years ago.
These exceptional fossils are the subject of this book and add more than just flesh to ancient bones. We can find out how animals behaved, moved, fed, hunted and reproduced. They tell of tragedies such as that of a solitary horseshoe crab crawling along a sea floor until it died, of a dinosaur parent protecting its nest of eggs and being engulfed by a sandstorm, of mammoths locked in combat and succumbing to their injuries and many more. There are tales of sex, of death, of disease and even farting – all part of the rich tapestry of life.
The book is split into five chapters each covering a different aspect of the fossil record, such as sex, parental care, biting and feeding and so on. Dean gives background information such as where and when the fossil was found, what sort of world in lived in and goes from there to describe the specimen. He explains the evidence from which conclusions are reached and is careful to include alternative explanations for what can be seen. This is for me one of the most fascinating aspects of palaeontology, the detective work which reveals the unknown. The fossils themselves take centre stage, and some of them are spectacular. Dinsosaurs locked in combat, a huge fish with a smaller fish preserved in its belly, or an ichthyosaur giving birth. Others seem insignificant, but when subject to intense scrutiny reveal amazing stories. Faint traces on the surface of a piece of shale can be the remains of a predatory worm and its last meal. Bone fragments in a coprolite (fossil poo) shows how a predator was able to smach and swallow even the strongest bones of its prey.
The book is illustrated by Bob Nicholls, an artist who is highly respected for the meticulous research and thought he gives to his images and who has worked closely with many palaeontologists. He has co-authored several scientific papers through such collaboration. The pictures are accurate and detailed and add life to descriptions of the animals.
I’d recommend this book to anyone with an interest in fossils. Dean writes well, and explains clearly what can been seen as a rather intimidating subject. It that our modern science is no longer devoted to just collecting, describing and displaying fossils but a dynamic and ever-changing discipline.

One person found this helpful

faye rackham

Incredibly fascinating!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

I am an incredibly reluctant and slow reader but finished this book in one weekend which is a personal accomplishment as I always rely on audio books. I absolutely loved it, it was so informative and very well written. I really liked all the scientific terms as well as explanations and it goes without saying the illustrations were fantastic and really helps the reader to picture the scenario whilst bringing the fossils to life. The short stories of each fossil were well explained and, for me, made it so much easier to read and keep my focus - in fact I couldn’t put it down (I know that’s cliche but it’s true). This book had me lost in a prehistoric world and I didn’t want it to end. (Photo by me @prehistoricmodels on Instagram)

2 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Excellent read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

This was a really well written book, the author explained straight away what it wasn't - ie a fossils text book. It was a very enjoyable discussion of the behaviour that could be worked out from the evidence contained in selected fossils. The accompanying illustrations were beautifully drawn imagings of the behaviour. I know thius will be a book I will reread and probably sooner rather than later.

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