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Ever wonder why so many fossilized animals, particularly dinosaurs, look so twisted about when they're found? For much of my life the explanations been that ligament drying caused those seemingly agonized positions. That long held theory has recently been revisited by Cynthia Marshall Faux, a veterinarian and paleontologist from Museum of the Rockies, and her co-author Kevin Padian, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. In the March issue of the quarterly journal Paleobiology the article so fetchingly titled " Agonized Death Throes Probable Cause Of Open-mouthed, Head-back Pose Of Many Dinosaur Fossils " explores the problems with the ligament drying theory. Rather, they postulate, the agonized looking positions are exactly what they seem. The result of an agonizing death. Hmmm. Common sense wins out in the end! Witness the Archaeopteryx over there on the left. Just by looking at the position of the bones you get the distinct imp...