We tend not to think of dinosaurs as creatures that needed to hide, but a specialist in trace fossils, that is, fossil tracks, trails, and footprints, has identified fossils of a small adult and two juvenile dinosaurs in what he interprets as a fossil burrow in 95-million year old sedimentary rocks in Montana.
Ichnologist Anthony Martin of Emory University in Georgia presumes that the dinosaurs used the burrow to protect themselves from predatory dinosaurs.
More recently Martin identified similar burrow structures in 105-million year old sedimentary rocks from Victoria, Australia. The burrows are about 2 meters long and 30 centimeters in diameter and spiral downward to end in an enlarged chamber.
During the Early Cretaceous Period the average annual temperature in Victoria was probably less than 20 C (68 F). So in addition to serving as protection from predators, a burrowing habit may have served to protect the cold-blooded reptiles from freezing winter temperatures.
Research by Anthony Martin, published in Cretaceous Research (October, 2009)
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