# data[].attributes.body
The process of fossilization requires very specific environmental, geological, and biological conditions.

# data[].attributes.body
to be a complete reference for past life, we'd need to have a record for every organism that ever lived on the planet

# data[].attributes.body
the fossil record is considered incomplete because of so called "missing links"

# data[].attributes.body
like all rocks, they erode, melt and fragment, this is a contributing factor to why we cant properly decipher and uncover some fossils .

# data[].attributes.body
https://socratic.org/questions/why-is-the-fossil-record-an-incomplete-history-of-life

# data[].attributes.body
https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/incomplete-fossil-record.htm

# data[].attributes.body
Fossils only form when an organism dies and they're buried in low oxygen environments, so the odds of an organism becoming a fossil is only 5%.

# data[].attributes.body
Sediment is covered over an organisms remains in order to start the long fossilization process.

# data[].attributes.body
Most organisms decompose before this could happen, the odds of of fossilization increase if the organism had a higher population or if it lived in or around sediment

# data[].attributes.body
when animals, plants and other organisms die, they typically decay completely. several different chemical and physical processes occur to make a fossil.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.livescience.com/37781-how-do-fossils-form-rocks.html

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.livescience.com/32530-what-is-the-missing-link.html

# data[].attributes.body
A missing link would possess the "in-between" evolutionary properties of both the ancestors original traits and the traits of the evolved organism.

# data[].attributes.body
usually plant leaves and the soft body parts of fish, reptiles and marine invertebrates .

# data[].attributes.body
heat and pressure from being buried in sediment can cause the tissue of the organism to release hydrogen and oxygen, leaving behind carbon residue. This process makes a detailed carbon impression of the dead organism in sedimentary rock.