Zombie ammonite discovery is 'snapshot of an unusual moment in deep time' | Elsa Panciroli

A trace fossil from Jurassic Bavaria captures the last movements of a dead mollusc across the ancient sea floor

In your mind's eye, imagine yourself floating in a shallow, semi-tropical lagoon. It's like the Bahamas: warm water enveloping your skin, the sun shimmering through the gently slopping surface and sending the shadows of ripples onto the pale sand beneath you. It's very quiet here, because there are no other humans on Earth. You are swimming in the Late Jurassic.

This is not the Bahamas - it's Bavaria. A mere 150 million years ago Germany was closer to the equator, submerged under water, and teeming with lobsters, fish and ammonites.