The Conversation
August 22, 2022
Frogs once lived alongside dinosaurs. About 45 million years ago, the North Sea covered half of Germany. It’s incredible to think these little creatures survived the dinosaurs’ extinction. But a lower level mass death did take place in what is now called the Geiseltal region in central Germany and the cause has long remained a mystery.
Hundreds of frog fossils were found in a mass grave in Geiseltal’s 45-million-year-old swampy coastlands, and their reason for being there has confounded scientists for decades. But my team’s study found an explanation: they died from exhaustion while mating.