Life After Burgess Shale Summary

The background of Burgess Shale is described with details in the beginning of this chapter. Next, in the “life before the Burgess” part, the writer gives his opinions on how the timeline of earth should be predicted based on the fauna found in Burgess Shale. In the “life after the Burgess” part, there are some people proclaim that majority of fossil mammals could be known only by their teeth. This is due to the fact that soft parts (example: flesh) can only be preserved by certain conditions and usually they will just decay and cannot be traced. The soft parts are very essential as they are rich in information and allow a good reconstruction of the basic function and anatomy of the entire animal. Thus, this statement strengthens the fact that