Treacherous natural death traps have been killing animals since life began and then preserving their victims so we can find their remains and learn their stories. Some traps are still killing today, while others go back half a billion years to some of the earliest life on the planet. Now skilled paleo-detectives are unlocking the secrets of these natural death traps. They're putting flesh on long-dead bones at traps from the Arctic to Australia, from Canada to Mexico, and even in downtown Los Angeles. The traps are shedding light on age-old mysteries, such as why so many of the world's big mammals died out at the end of the last great ice age.

Treacherous natural death traps have been killing animals since life began and ...