Every fossil has many stories to tell. From the most spectacular dinosaur skeleton to the most common little foram shell, every fossil fragment and trace contains clues about prehistoric lives, ancient ecologies, and worlds that vanished so long before we were born that we can’t even fully comprehend the full span of time between ourselves and those vestiges. Even the most mundane turtle shell fragment or brachiopod is a time capsule which testifies to the intricacies of prehistoric lives. And, every now and then, paleontologists are fortunate enough to find rare hints of prehistoric behaviors among the collected bits of shell, tooth, and bone.

In the case of a fossil described last week by paleontologists Adiël Klompmaker of Kent State University,