Here’s the skeletons of two elephants, facing to the right. If you saw their skulls, and had never seen a picture of an elephant before, you’d probably never deduce that their faces carried long, muscular trunks.

Here’s the skull of a chicken. If the animal was still alive, you’d easily be able to tell if it was a rooster or a hen. The former would have wattles and a cock’s comb, all bright red. But the bones alone preserve no traces of these soft tissues.

See the pattern here? Soft tissues like combs, wattles and trunks don’t usually survive the process of decay, much less fossilisation. Bones and skeletons rarely hint at their presence.

But there are exceptions.

Here’s a fossil of