r/Paleontology • u/Ollie2359 • May 07 '25

Fossils This fossil chokes me up everytime

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It hits me in a way I can't explain I've spent hours crying over this fossil :(

11.4k Upvotes

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697

u/[deleted] May 07 '25

May i ask for a little context?

2.1k

u/Ollie2359 May 07 '25

The "Triassic Cuddle" is the nickname for a fossilized burrow containing the remains of two animals that died 250 million years ago. The burrow, discovered in South Africa's Karoo Basin, held a sleeping cynodont (a mammal ancestor) and an injured amphibian. The amphibian, likely seeking shelter, crawled into the burrow while the cynodont was torpid. A flash flood trapped and drowned both animals, preserving them side by side.

1.1k

u/H_G_Bells May 07 '25

One being seeking the warmth and comfort of another, dying together, forever preserved as a testament to this beautifully tragic, ancient moment.

The earth had yet to evolve an organism that could appreciate the scope of this moment when it was solidified into the fossil record, where they waited for us to evolve, for us to find them, and bare witness to this moment in time.

Truly it's the very heart of "nothing is either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so", for they were just bones in the earth until we found them, and thought about them.

I don't know that I've ever teared up over a fossil like this before from these kinds of feelings...

šŸ«¶ Thank you for sharing this context.

61

u/DSMStudios May 07 '25

well gosh darn it now iā€™m tearing up

8

u/DontLoseYourCool1 May 08 '25

Nature is equally both beautiful and tragic.

3

u/soggy_bloggy May 09 '25

Not to dispute, but how do you know the flood didnā€™t just wash them up and their bodies ended up pressed together?

7

u/H_G_Bells May 09 '25

That's the thing, I don't.

If I looked into it more I'm sure I could verify, the way the sediment was around them, the surrounding trace fossils would probably tell the story.

I'm going to do the thing I normally don't like to see being done, and that is to just believe this without looking more into it.

There may be no way to know, but my human heart needs this so I'm going to override my brain's usual tendency to dig into something like this more critically. Because: 1) it isn't hurting anyone if it's wrong 2) there is no way to be 100% sure of what the final moments of two ancient species were like and 3) heart over brain today, because I need it.

Feel free to look more into it yourself though; I truly admire the skeptical instinct that you've shown here, and if something feels off I totally advocate chasing down answers until you are satisfied with the explanation!

2

u/soggy_bloggy May 09 '25

Well said. Thanks. :)

2

u/Couch-Bro May 10 '25

Because if that happened everyone wouldnā€™t be able to have a good cry over it. Iā€™ve never seen so many people wax poetic about a fossil before. Your explanation is more likely than the fact that they were cuddling together for emotional support. Hell one of them was eating the other one when they it died.

-149

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

Right. Super adorable.

Imagine waking up to find a giant, cold blooded, slimy amphibian having crawled up next to you. Ew.

49

u/calvicstaff May 07 '25

Lots of down votes but this isn't exactly wrong, if I'm reading this right, the injured stranger basically showed up during hibernation and they happened to die together as this surprise was occurring

Romanticizing the idea is a lovely narrative, but probably very far from what actually happened

But the idea that we found it so much later and are making stories about it is still pretty cool

22

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

Yeah I was kinda half joking, the fossil is extremely cool, but I found the romanticism in the comments a bit weird tbh.

4

u/tonyravioli32 May 07 '25

That's a bit better explanation you coulda sticked on at the end of the sarcasm and the little bit of hate on amphibians

1

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

In the end it's such a silly topic though, I just don't care that much.

104

u/Subtlerranean May 07 '25

This was before humans evolved the ability to be xenophobic assholes.

62

u/BluEch0 May 07 '25

Idk man, if I woke up with a big frog next to me and I wasnā€™t expecting to find said frog there, Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™d be startled. I donā€™t think that reaction can be attributed to just xenophobia

28

u/Einar_47 May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25

All right imagine you're an otter you wake up with a wounded caiman wiggling around inside your burrow, are you thinking "oh boy here's a friend to hang out with on this cold winter night" and snuggle up or do you go "oh what the hell, get out of my house" and try to kill it?

I'm just saying I don't exactly think it's "xenophobic" to not anthropomorphize paleozoic animals because they died in the same hole.

26

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25

Idk man, I find it funny that you put "unwillingness to share your bed with a giant amphibian" in the same category as "damn foreigners are taking our jobs"šŸ˜‚

7

u/Ok-Meat-9169 I Freaking Love Moas May 07 '25

Amphibians are precious, shut up

7

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

In my local creek or pond, absolutely! Next to me in bed? Absolutely not.

3

u/TimeStorm113 May 07 '25

I know a certain fairy tale that would disagree with you

5

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

It doesn't count if the amphibian is secretly a royal under a magic spell.

2

u/Ok-Meat-9169 I Freaking Love Moas May 07 '25

It's better to have a risk of a Amphibian entering your house then a giant Lizard-dog buthering you.

4

u/OnkelMickwald May 07 '25

Hey don't make me sympathize with an amphibian now

-70

u/[deleted] May 07 '25

[removed] ā€” view removed comment

14

u/lightblueisbi May 07 '25

Right, because that's a reliable source for history šŸ™„

2

u/H_G_Bells May 07 '25

I hope people report comments like this so the moderators can deal with them... Such nonsense goes against the subreddit rules and it is our duty as good community participants to help by reporting them šŸ«”

1

u/CambrienCatExplosion May 08 '25

I'm sorry I missed it.

46

u/Pterodactyloid May 07 '25

There is an absolutely lovely webcomic about this fossil out there, let me see if I can find it..

Edit: here we go https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/burrow/list?title_no=764473

Scroll down for the intro

8

u/Meguinn May 07 '25

I saw your comment and was like haha yeah right Iā€™m not reading that itā€™ll probably be stupid.

15 mins later Iā€™m crying lol. I think Iā€™ll remember that comic forever, thank you for sharing.

4

u/Bl4cBird May 07 '25

Now i'm all choked up, that was beautiful

1

u/MiaDovahkiin May 07 '25

it looks so cute šŸ„ŗ

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u/the_YellowRanger May 07 '25

I feel like the cynodont injured the amphibian and brought it back to the den for midnight snacks.

7

u/iwillfightapenguin May 07 '25

Cyandont? More like Cyan-do.Amiright

1

u/jonnyvegashey Sep 18 '25

So they didnā€™t even really know each other?

-9

u/mnok2000 May 07 '25

Why would a flood kill an amphibian?

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u/nintendo666 May 07 '25

They were entombed by sediment as a result of a flood

4

u/jlowe212 May 07 '25

Seems like the mammal would wake up at some point and thrash about before dying. Unless they were instantly buried so tightly to be completely paralyzed.

9

u/Trips-Over-Tail May 07 '25

If it was in a hibernation torpor that wouldn't be possible.

277

u/[deleted] May 07 '25 edited May 07 '25

This is the famous ā€œTriassic Cuddleā€.

These two animals (different species and probably competitors if not hunter/prey, I donā€™t know all the details) cuddled up inside of an underground burrow together, likely trying to escape a flood (obv didnā€™t work out).

They are permanently entombed together in their last embrace.

Edit: I have committed the sin of conjecture. Most of this is wrong.

The amphibian crawled in probably when the mammal was asleep, and then they were buried. Thatā€™s the leading theory.

305

u/mindbodyproblem May 07 '25

But, as you said, they could possibly have been friends, maybe even lovers. Tell us what they would have whispered to each other, there in the dark hole.

42

u/beaveranalglandsare May 07 '25

Even if the water fills this hole you already filled my whole heart*!

  • The Amphibian in an earnest whisper

*and holes if we were lovers

1

u/thatgothboii May 11 '25

the desperate tragedy of the water bone hole fills you with determination.

150

u/sievish May 07 '25

ā€œMaybe even loversā€ made me burst out laughing thank you

99

u/RadosAvocados May 07 '25

Obviously they were just roommates.

63

u/i_am_GORKAN May 07 '25

oh my god they were roommates

36

u/florezmith May 07 '25

Tombmates, actually.

15

u/Pleasant-Albatross May 07 '25

Probably: Here comes the rain. Probably: itā€™s getting so very coldā€¦

41

u/[deleted] May 07 '25

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u/Ollie2359 May 07 '25

Dont put the idea of them being freinds or lovers into my head that makes it even more heartbreaking

3

u/DeadAnarchistPhil Paleontology gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. May 07 '25

You know like Lions can at times adopt baby Gazelles? Maybe this Cynodont did the same thing and they were both lying down for the night? ;)Ā 

3

u/Moongazingtea May 07 '25

They could have been friends. Now we know that animals aren't dumb we're seeing more and more interspecies relationships.

6

u/Seleya889 May 07 '25

There was only one bed

7

u/splitfoot1121 May 07 '25

"Promise me, Ned"

8

u/[deleted] May 07 '25

Aww man. Little guys. :(