Coelophysis, Fireworks and Barbecues

Summer is a time of fireworks - then again, a time of fireworks. Technically it's been summer for over a week now. But in the States, summer is formally kicked-off on the fourth of July, ushered in by the dramatic fireworks of Independence Day, and the irresistable aroma of barbecues fired up for celebratory feasts around the country. It's also the threshold of the season of forest fires, as temperatures soar throughout the northern hemisphere during the upcoming weeks.

Forest fires were also commonplace in the overheated, often arid environment of the Triassic Period. Here we see a pack of Coelophysis trying to AVOID a barbecue as they flee a fire 200 million years ago, in what is now the state of New Mexico.