Let's learn more about fossils in caves.
Fossils are really interesting things, and we can learn so much from them.
Fossils Facts for Kids
Paleontologists carefully remove fossils from the ground and record all the details about where and how the fossils were found.
This helps us understand why the living organism may have died and why it may have been found in this particular location.
What are fossils?The only way that we’ve been able to learn about dinosaurs, and still do, is by studying fossils.
They are the relics of ancient animals and plants, or the traces or imprints of living things from many, many years ago.
Over long, long periods, these small pieces of debris are squeezed and they get buried under more and more layers of sediment that pile up high on top of it.
Eventually, they are squeezed into sedimentary rock.
The fossil of a bone doesn’t have any bone in it!
A fossilized object is the same shape as the original object but is more like a rock.
We guess it’s all those years of being under rocks that they’re like this!
How are fossils formed?Some animals were quickly buried after their death, for example, if they sank in the mud or were buried in a sandstorm.
As the years go by, more and more of that sediment that we spoke about covers them up.
Some parts of the animals didn’t rot, normal bones and teeth, and they were covered in newly formed sediment.
If there were no scavengers, or any quick burials or too much weathering, then parts of those objects turned into fossils over time.
After a long time, the animal’s bodies changed due to some chemicals.
As bones slowly started rotting, water that had minerals in it seeped into the bone and replaced the chemicals turning the bone into rock-like minerals.
Fossilization is the process where the original object is dissolved and the original minerals are replaced with other minerals.
In the end, you get a heavy, rock-like copy of the original object; and that’s what we call a fossil.
The fossil has the same shape as the original object, but is actually more like a rock! That’s quite some process it goes through.
Fossils Facts for Kids
- Because of fossils we’ve know so much about dinosaurs
- A person who studies fossils are called a paleontologist
- Fossilized feces is called coprolites.
- The first fossils were found in 1819 by William Buckland
- The word fossil is Latin, meaning “having been dug up.”
- Fossilization is really rare most bones decompose quickly after they die.
- In 1902 Barnum Brown discovered the first skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex in Hell Creek, Montana.
- The remains of a gigantic marine reptile were found in southwestern England in 2018
- The largest dinosaur fossil found was nearly 34m dinosaur called the Argentinosaurus. It was found in central Argentina.
- The largest single fossil ever found was a petrified tree. It was found in Thailand and was over 72m long. Scientists estimate that the tree would have been over 100m tall when it was living. That’s a very high tree. Imagine trying to climb it?
- Fossils are found on every continent on Earth including Antarctica and at the top of Mount Everest near the highest point on Earth! The presence of fossils indicates that most of the Earth was covered by water at some time. Wow!
- Scientists study the facts about each and every fossil they find so they can find out where the animal might have lived, what they ate, how old they were, and how they died. Can you believe that a fossil can give us so much information?
Paleontologists carefully remove fossils from the ground and record all the details about where and how the fossils were found.
This helps us understand why the living organism may have died and why it may have been found in this particular location.
What are fossils?The only way that we’ve been able to learn about dinosaurs, and still do, is by studying fossils.
They are the relics of ancient animals and plants, or the traces or imprints of living things from many, many years ago.
Over long, long periods, these small pieces of debris are squeezed and they get buried under more and more layers of sediment that pile up high on top of it.
Eventually, they are squeezed into sedimentary rock.
The fossil of a bone doesn’t have any bone in it!
A fossilized object is the same shape as the original object but is more like a rock.
We guess it’s all those years of being under rocks that they’re like this!
How are fossils formed?Some animals were quickly buried after their death, for example, if they sank in the mud or were buried in a sandstorm.
As the years go by, more and more of that sediment that we spoke about covers them up.
Some parts of the animals didn’t rot, normal bones and teeth, and they were covered in newly formed sediment.
If there were no scavengers, or any quick burials or too much weathering, then parts of those objects turned into fossils over time.
After a long time, the animal’s bodies changed due to some chemicals.
As bones slowly started rotting, water that had minerals in it seeped into the bone and replaced the chemicals turning the bone into rock-like minerals.
Fossilization is the process where the original object is dissolved and the original minerals are replaced with other minerals.
In the end, you get a heavy, rock-like copy of the original object; and that’s what we call a fossil.
The fossil has the same shape as the original object, but is actually more like a rock! That’s quite some process it goes through.