ABSTRACT
The spectacular terrestrial trace fossils preserved at Laetoli help illustrate some of their main characteristics. Trace fossils usually cannot be transported and thus represent evidence of in situ communities. However, although the authors have a good idea of the behaviour of the animals, trace fossils characteristically give us no direct clue as to the identities of their producers. It is important to emphasise that the names assigned to trace fossils usually bear no relationship to the organisms that generate them. Excrement, for example faecal pellets and strings of shallow-marine invertebrates, and the larger coprolites produced by fishes and reptiles, are also usually included as trace fossils. The lack of sediment colour can prevent the immediate recognition of trace fossils, while many environments such as alluvial, glacial and deep-sea settings are not recorded in carbonate facies.
