Fossil Love

People seem to be getting very excited about a single case of a 300 m year-old fossil varanopid (lizard-like) reptile from Canada that appears to be an adult providing parental care to a single offspring in a plant stump nest (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/dec/23/300m-year-old-fossil-is-early-sign-of-creatures-caring-for-their-young). It is claimed that this may push parental care in four-limbed vertebrates back considerably. Having said that, there is a certain element of poetic licence in the interpretation of the fossil and it is already well-known that some fish, amphibians and many crocodilians show pronounced parental care. Improving the chances of one's offspring surviving thus appears to be a very old tool in the behavioural box of actions.