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Please look over this chart. You will be paired with a classmate to make a similar chart.

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What did you notice about the number of fossil records relating to the time periods on the graph?

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Have you ever wondered how we know so much about the dinosaurs, even though it's been millions of years since they walked the Earth? Well, we have fossils to thank for that!

Fossils can give scientists clues about animals and plants that lived a long, long time ago.

What exactly are fossils? What information do they give scientists, and how? Keep reading to learn more about these fascinating fossils!

What exactly are fossils, and how do they form?

Fossils are nature's records of animals and plants that lived a long, long time ago. Most of the time when we think of fossils, we think of animal remains that have turned to stone over time. How does this happen?

Well, sometimes the body of a dead animal sinks into dirt or mud. Some parts of the animal's body will decay over time, but harder, stronger parts like teeth and bones will remain.

These remains stay in the mud for a very long time, and eventually more mud starts pressing down on top of the animal's remains.

Over time, minerals from the surrounding dirt, rock, and other debris turn the remains into a hard fossil. This fossil is basically a stone copy of the original object.

Fossils can also form through a process called petrification, which happens when minerals replace previously living material. Wood and bone are often petrified, and so are many dinosaur fossils.

Sometimes, insects or small pieces of plants are found preserved in amber. This happens when animals or plants get trapped in sticky resin from trees, which eventually hardens into amber with the organism (plant or animal) still stuck inside.

Sometimes even footprints and burrows (holes that animals live in) can be fossilized.

For example, dinosaur footprints from long ago may have filled with sediment (sand, mud, little pieces of rock) and then eventually hardened into fossils.

What is paleontology?

The study of life that existed in geologic periods many, many years ago is called paleontology. The scientists who study paleontology are called paleontologists, and they mostly use fossils to learn about the past.

Paleontologists say that most animals don't fossilize, and that only a very small number of dinosaurs who lived will ever be found as fossils. That means that many dinosaurs and other animals existed that we will never even know about!

What can we learn from fossils?

Fossils can give us a lot of information about the past that we never would have known without them: what animals and plants looked like, where animals traveled, what animals ate, and more.

Fossils like footprints can help us learn about an animal's size and shape. For example, if an animal had very big footprints, he was probably a very big animal.

Footprints can also tell us where and how far animals usually traveled. Fossilized burrows also give us information about where animals lived.

Did you know that even poop can be fossilized? Fossils of poop are called coprolites, and they can tell us what a creature ate.

That, along with fossilized teeth, tell us which dinosaurs were carnivores (meat eaters), which were herbivores (plant eaters), and which were omnivores (ate both meat and plants).

Coprolites from the Tyrannosaurus rex have been found containing tiny pieces of bones, telling scientists that the T-rex ate other animals for lunch!

Fun facts about fossils

Fossils have been found on every continent in the world.

The largest fossil ever discovered is a petrified tree found in Thailand. The tree was more than 237 feet (72 meters) long, and was probably much taller when it was still living!

Scientists have found fossils of dinosaurs with feathers. Weird!

There are public places called fossil beds where anyone can go find fossils to collect.

The oldest known fossil is from a blue-green algae that lived in South Africa about 3.2 billion years ago.

Paleontologists recently discovered the fossil of a very tiny dinosaur in China. Named the microraptor, this dinosaur was only the size of a crow!

Fossils are also the reason scientists can estimate when the dinosaurs went extinct.

The largest dinosaur scientists have discovered is the Argentinosaurus, which was 110 feet long and lived in-you guessed it-Argentina!

Now you know all about fossils. Aren't they interesting? Fossils are important because they give us clues about what life was like a long time ago.

If we didn't have fossils, we would never even know that dinosaurs existed!

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Have you ever wondered how we know so much about the dinosaurs, even though it's been millions of years since they walked the Earth? Well, we have fossils to thank for that! Fossils can give scientists clues about animals and plants that lived a long, long time ago. What exactly are fossils?

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Please read this article and write a three paragraph summary of what you learned. This should be focused on this article, but can use the fossil facts and the other fossil article on this board to help your progress.

The first paragraph should be an introduction, the second should be your body, and the third and last paragraph should be your conclusion and a summary of your response.

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This lists the logos of programs or partners of NG Education which have provided or contributed the content on this page. Leveled by

Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary

Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth. It focuses on fossils. A fossil is the remains of a long-dead animal or plant.

There are mainly two kinds of fossils. In one case, animal, or plant matter is replaced by rock over time. The remains still keep their shape. In the other case, the fossil is actually an impression. It can be a footprint, for example. Or it can be the outline of a body pressed into mud. Over time, the earth and mud turn to rock. Yet, the impression remains.

Paleontologists study all species, or kinds of animals and plants. They study species that still exist. They also study extinct species. Extinct species are ones that have died out. Dinosaurs are one example.

Fossils show how living things evolved, or changed, over time. They also show how one species evolved out of another. For example, paleontologists believe whales evolved from land animals. They think this because of the fossils of certain extinct animals. These animals are closely related to whales. Like whales, they lived in the ocean. Yet, they still had legs. Over time, those legs disappeared. Then, whales developed.

Subdisciplines of Paleontology

There are several different kinds of paleontology, called subdisciplines. Each looks at a different kind of fossil.

Vertebrate Paleontology

Vertebrate paleontology is one kind of paleontology. It is the study of fossils of animals with backbones. Vertebrate paleontologists have dug up the fossilized skeletons of many ancient animals. For example, they have found many kinds of dinosaurs.

Invertebrate Paleontology

Invertebrate paleontology is the study of the fossils of animals without backbones. Such animals are called invertebrates. They include things like crabs, shrimp, sponges, and worms. Invertebrates do not have bones. They do leave things like shells behind, though. Or, they leave an impression of their soft bodies.

Paleobotany

Paleobotany is the study of fossils of ancient plants. These can be impressions of plants left on rocks. Or, they can be parts of plants preserved in rock. Such fossils show how plants have evolved.

Micropaleontology

﻿Micropaleontology is the study of fossils of microscopic organisms. These living things are very, very tiny. Most are so small they cannot be seen with the eye alone. They can only be seen with microscopes.

History of Paleontology

People around the world have been finding fossils for thousands of years. They did not always understand what they were, though.

Paleontology as we know it began in the 1700s. At that point, scientists were carefully studying fossils for the first time.

Scientist Charles Darwin changed paleontology greatly. In the 1850s, he showed that new species evolve over time. Over millions of years, one species can change and become a new species. Animals living today are related to species from the distant past. This can be true even when they look very different.

After Darwin, paleontologists saw fossils in a new way. They began to make connections between fossils and living animals. These connections helped show how ancient animals lived. They also showed how one kind of animal evolved into another.

Take the example of the Archaeopteryx . The Archaeopteryx lived many millions of years ago. Paleontologists discovered it had wings like a bird. Yet, it also had teeth like a dinosaur. That made paleontologists decide the Archaeopteryx was a very early kind of bird. Over time, dinosaurs evolved into birds. The Archaeopteryx was a first step in that direction.

In the late 1800s, scientists discovered radioactivity. Radioactive objects send out a certain amount of energy over time. By measuring how much radioactive material a fossil has, scientists can guess the fossil's age. This is called radiometric dating.

Paleontology Today

Today, paleontologists use many advanced tools. They study the smallest fossils with microscopes. They use x-ray machines to look inside fossils. Computers help them figure out how extinct animals looked and moved.

Paleontologists still make important discoveries with simple tools, too. They still use pickaxes and brooms. Around the world, many are still digging away. Each is hoping to learn more about the history of life on Earth.

Credits

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writers

Diane Boudreau
Melissa McDaniel
Erin Sprout
Andrew Turgeon

Illustrators

Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society
Tim Gunther, Illustrator

Editors

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
Kara West

Educator Reviewer

Nancy Wynne

Expert Reviewer

Jill Wertheim, National Geographic Society

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Sources

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

Last Updated

April 29, 2011

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Writers

Diane Boudreau
Melissa McDaniel
Erin Sprout
Andrew Turgeon

Illustrators

Mary Crooks, National Geographic Society
Tim Gunther, Illustrator

Editors

Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing
Kara West

Educator Reviewer

Nancy Wynne

Expert Reviewer

Jill Wertheim, National Geographic Society

Producer

Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society

Sources

Dunn, Margery G. (Editor). (1989, 1993). "Exploring Your World: The Adventure of Geography." Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society.

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Paleontology is the study of the history of life on Earth as based on fossils. Fossils are the remains of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, and single-celled living things that have been replaced by rock material or impressions of organisms preserved in rock.

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Fossils - Educational Earth Science Video for Elementary Students & Kids

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Directly From National Park Service.

MATERIALS

A large bowl

Spoon

Wax paper or foil

1 cup of flour

½ cup of salt

1 cups of cold coffee or water

1 cup of used coffee grounds (optional)

Leaves, sticks, etc. you want to make fossils of

Paint (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1.  In the bowl mix 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of salt. Add 1 cup of used coffee grounds. Hint: Let the grounds dry out first or use a bit less liquid liquid later.

2. Add 1 cup of cold coffee or water and mix well to create your "sediment".

3. Lay out your leaves and sticks on a sheet of wax paper or tin foil. Make sure there is a bit of space between them all.

4. Cover your leaves and sticks in the "sediment" mixture you made. It might help to use the spoon to spread it over them bit by bit. Leave some space as you do this to create separate fossils, or you'll get a huge sheet!

5. Let your fossils dry completely. You can leave them in a window to let the sunlight help.

6. When your fossils are completely dry, flip them over and carefully remove the remaining leaves and sticks. You should be left with an imprint of them in your new fossils.

7. (optional): Use brown or tan paint to color the imprints of your fossils to look like carbon left behind by the leaves.

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What was Earth like millions of years ago? Explore fossil evidence about our planet's past to discover how different Earth once looked.

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Please read for information pertaining fossils.

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Fossils are the remains or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago. Fossils give scientists clues about the past. For this reason, fossils are important to paleontology, or the study of prehistoric life.

Most fossils are found in earth that once lay underwater. They usually formed from the hard parts-such as shells or bones-of living things. After a living thing died, it sank to the bottom of the sea. Layers of earth and the remains of other living things built up on top of it. Over time, these layers turned into rock. Eventually, part or all of the living thing's hard parts also turned into rock. The fossil is the shape of these hard parts in the rock.

Other fossils are imprints on soft material that later hardened into rock. For example, scientists have found dinosaur footprints in rock that formed from mud.

Another kind of fossil can form after a small insect or a piece of a plant gets trapped in resin. (Resin is a sticky substance made by pine and fir trees.) When the resin hardens into a rocklike material called amber, the object inside is preserved.

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Fossils are the remains or traces of plants and animals that lived long ago. Fossils give scientists clues about the past. For this reason, fossils are important to...