I have to apologize to carnivores. In an article about how to become a fossil, published last summer, I wrote that I wasn’t enamored with the idea of being deposited in the fossil record as bone scraps in carnivore dung. That’s still true, but I should have done more than make a passing joke about my fossilization preferences. There’s more to the story than scat. Carnivores have contributed greatly to literally assembling the fossil record.

From crocs to hyenas, predatory animals past have inadvertently assisted paleontologists by bringing their meals to lake bottoms, caves, and other places amenable to preservation. Worse for wear the