31 Facts About Fossils That Are Extremely Fascinating!

Fossils unlock various facts about the ancient world and its inhabitants.

Fossils are not only the bones and leftovers of dinosaurs, but they are present in all shapes and sizes. They can also be footprints, teeth, insects, sedimentary rocks, plants, leaves, and bones.

Bones include dinosaur bones and other animals bones. In the past, when dinosaurs went extinct, some of their remains were preserved deep below the ground.

Paleontologists have also discovered fossils of fish species that were part of the Earth's animal and plant species many years ago. Scientists and paleontologists found many fossils and traces of extinct species, which include dinosaur fossils, plant fossils, and animal fossils. Scientists trace fossils of dinosaurs that were mostly found in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Antarctica.

Fossilized resin is also one of the ancient fossils that have been traced by scientists. Fossils are usually known to be remnants, which have been petrified.

Most fossils have been discovered or can be found among sedimentary rocks. They play an important role to biologists as they are the only evidence for evolution and tell us a lot about Earth's past.

If you enjoy reading this article all about fossils, then why not take a look at some more articles here at Kidadl. We recommend that you read about saber-tooth fossils and learn about how petrified fossils are formed.

Origin Of The Word Fossil

'Fossils' comes from the original Latin word 'fossus', which means digging up something to find the remains and leftovers of ancient organisms.

Fossils are discovered by paleontology and teach us about the history of Earth. Nowadays, we study the fossils of ancient plants, animals, their teeth, birds, and other species. We look at the fossilized remains of animals that were found in the history of the Earth all overthe world.

There are mainly two types of fossils. These are the preserved remains of a body or entire organism and trace fossils.

The preserved remains of an organism may have come about through death, petrification, freezing, algae or bacteria. The snail, Turritella, is one of the most common fossils and is quite abundant. Fossils take hundreds of years to form.

Then, fossilized remains are discovered by scientists. Fossils are formed by the remains of hard parts of teeth, bones, and shells.

Scientists also keep fossil records of dinosaur species who survived the era and were still alive during the change in their physiology. Sometimes, animals' remains sink into the mud and do not decay as they don't have any source of air.

Fossils are usually found in sedimentary rock as rocks are formed on the Earth's surface where the organisms live.

Paleontologists

Paleontology is a kind of science in which people study fossils of extinct species and their remains, including those of living and non-living organisms like plants, animals, feathers, rocks and many more. They theorize about the life of these creatures in the history of the Earth.

Barnum Brown, who was one of the original dinosaur hunters, began his career at the American Museum of natural history in the year 1897. There are many other paleontologists who made great and fascinating discoveries about the remains of various species.

The main responsibility of paleontologists is to figure out the bond and relationship between these species' remains and then compare them with species living in the present day. They bring each fact together and try to put it into a sequence so that they can learn about the history of life on Earth.

They also find minerals and interesting uses and facts about them. Paleontology locates fossils and excavates layers of sedimentary rock.

Some tools are used for excavations, including drills, picks, and shovels.

They make comparisons between both new and old data to identify a time period in which they believe the fossil may have been created. They share this information with other scientists and take on their feedback as well.

What can we learn by studying fossils?

There are various interesting facts that paleontologists can learn about fossils by studying them. They can find out about the condition of these organisms and how they survived on Earth in the past.

Scientists discover fossils in various parts of the world and gather them together for more information. They can find out about extinct plants, animals, bones, dinosaurs, non-avian dinosaurs, rocks, minerals, feathers, climate change, evolutionary evidence, and ancient cultures.

It helps us to know about extinct plants and animals that lived on Earth years ago and compare them with modern species. Scientists may also learn about the skeletal structure of a creature and figure out many things about its diet and habitat.

Evolutionary evidence tells us about the era of a species and the time period that it lived in.

Fossils also provide basic information about climate change during that time. The remains of ancient cultures tell us about the food they ate, the place they lived, their habitat, and their tools.

Fossilized Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs were old species found on earth millions of years ago. The oldest fossils of any species might be dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils were first discovered by scientists years ago. Their remains have turned into fossils because of sedimentary rock. Mary Anning found the first dinosaur fossil in the year 1824.

A dinosaur fossil may be found with fossilized teeth and fossilized poop. Megalodon teeth are the oldest fossils and date back to around 3.5 billion years ago.

Dinosaurs ruled over Earth about 160 million years ago. They ranged in size from birds to large trucks and buildings.

A dinosaur named the Tyrannosaurus rex, whose fossils were discovered by scientists, contained many particles of crushed bones. Remains of dinosaurs with feathers are also found and are quite unusual. However, these feathers can be preserved and given the structure of a stone.

Fossils that turn hard are formed on a rock. They take the shape of a particular object and are buried under sediment, and turn into sedimentary rocks.

Fossilized Animals

There are many examples of fossilized animals. From their remains, we can learn about the life they survived on Earth before dying or going extinct.

There are two types of animal fossils: living fossils and non-living fossils.

They retain the same forms over millions of years, and there are still some species of animals left on the Earth that have unusual traits which make them memorable. These are considered rare, and scientists focus on these species more because of the glimpse they give of life on Earth many years ago.

The names of these fossilized animals include the Komodo Dragon, Sandhill Crane, Aardvark, Red Panda, Tuatara, Nautilus, Purple frog, Platypus, Hagfish, Hoatzin, koala, pig-nosed turtle, horseshoe crab, goblin shark, elephant shrew, and crocodiles. Some of the animals are still found in water bodies and are dangerous to human life.

Crocodiles are given the title of living dinosaurs because of the characteristics that they have in common with ancient reptiles.

They have the same body structure as a dinosaur, and they are also known as the closest living relatives of birds.

This is because there is a relationship between both birds and reptiles. There was a common ancestor for both of them, who lived on Earth around 240 million years ago.

Types Of Fossils

Fossils are defined as the preserved remains of plants and animals, which may have gone extinct. There are fossils for living and non-living organisms.

There are four types of fossils that are known in the history of the Earth, and they are mold fossils, trace fossils, true form fossils, and cast fossils. All four fossils are further classified into subcategories that depend on other minor facts.

So let's first talk about the subdivision of mold fossils, which includes body fossils (bones, shells, and leaves), extreme molds, and internal molds. Extreme molds are the exterior of a shell.

The exterior part of a shell is always removed, and therefore they remain. Internal molds are the inner parts of a shell or a bone that are left on a rock or in mud and are found by scientists. Next are molecular fossils, trace fossils, carbon fossils, and pseudo fossils.

Mineral solutions take the place of plants and animals when they rush through sediment, but they are not classified as plants and animals. Pseudo fossil is a term used to describe these types of fossils.

What is a preserved-remains fossil, and how are they formed?

Preserved remains of fossils are the leftovers of lost species of living and nonliving creatures. They tell us about their life cycles on Earth when they were alive.

Fossils are formed in various ways, like when living things are dead, so their remains are buried under the Earth, and the soft parts decay, leaving the hard parts. These are known as ammonites which are common fossils.

When heat is applied to this type of fossil, they take the form of sedimentary rock and are pushed up when there are changes in the Earth's crust. Because of climatic changes like rain, cold, or heat, they are exposed once again to the surface of the Earth.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our facts about fossils, then why not take a look at our articles on trace fossils facts or Spinosaurus fossils?