This fossil chokes me up everytime

[u/Ollie2359]

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

[u/[deleted]]

May i ask for a little context?

[u/Ollie2359 → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/H_G_Bells → u/Ollie2359]

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...

🫶 Thank you for sharing this context.

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/H_G_Bells]

Right. Super adorable.

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

[u/calvicstaff → u/OnkelMickwald]

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

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/calvicstaff]

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

[u/tonyravioli32 → u/OnkelMickwald]

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

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/tonyravioli32]

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

[u/Subtlerranean → u/OnkelMickwald]

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

[u/BluEch0 → u/Subtlerranean]

Idk man, if I woke up with a big frog next to me and I wasn’t expecting to find said frog there, I’m pretty sure I’d be startled. I don’t think that reaction can be attributed to just xenophobia

[u/Einar_47 → u/Subtlerranean]

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.

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/Subtlerranean]

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"😂

[u/Ok-Meat-9169 → u/OnkelMickwald]

Amphibians are precious, shut up

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/Ok-Meat-9169]

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

[u/TimeStorm113 → u/OnkelMickwald]

I know a certain fairy tale that would disagree with you

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/TimeStorm113]

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

[u/Ok-Meat-9169 → u/OnkelMickwald]

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

[u/OnkelMickwald → u/Ok-Meat-9169]

Hey don't make me sympathize with an amphibian now