Death defining

Science News,  August 25, 2007  by Ron McMurtry,  C. Barry

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In "Jurassic CSI: Fossils indicate central nervous system damage" (SN: 6/23/07, p. 390), the unusual head positions seem to indicate that these creatures died from a kind of nerve damage. One of the possibilities is oxygen deprivation. Doesn't this suggest that most of these creatures probably died from suffocation after a sudden mud slide or other deluge?

RON MCMURTRY, MODESTO, CALIF.

Suffocation from a mud slide, deluge, or volcanic eruption is a strong possibility. But not all fossils in this pose are found in those geological settings.--C. BARRY

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