Fossils Facts

If you are interested in studying human evolution and life systems of past geological periods with the help of fossils and vestiges of prehistoric organisms, you should opt for 'paleontology', a branch of biology. How do fossils form? Plants and animals are preserved in the earth if they get buried before decaying. Other factors leading to fossils formation are animal matter getting trapped in ice or dead bodies being mummified by human beings. Certain biological conditions promote fossilization of plants or animals. All living organisms buried in earth are not fossilized. Most fossils were found in river beds or ocean floors.

Amazing Facts about Fossils

• Nearly 270,000,000 years old fossil egg of a prehistoric reptile was detected in a rock in Texas.
• Scientists can tell the weight of the animal by measuring the depth of fossilized footprints.
• Vertebrate fossils are formed from bones of the animals while invertebrate fossils are formed from plant or animal matter which does not contain bones.
• Dinosaur fossils facts inform us that Gigantosaurus lived in Argentina about 93 million years ago. Gigantosaurus weighed about 6.2 tons and they were about 43 feet long.
• Here are some more dinosaur facts for those who love to hear about dinosaurs. Dinosaur fossils were obtained from the layers of sedimentary rocks, in various parts of the world. Through these fossils only, scientists could get an idea about the bone structure of the dinosaur and dinosaur habitat.
• British geologist Gideon Mantell first discovered a dinosaur fossil in 1822. Information about different types of dinosaur was gathered through fossils found at different times.
• The fossil found in Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1858, was the first nearly complete dinosaur fossil found; which informed the world about bipedal dinosaurs. Till then, it was believed that all dinosaurs had four feet.
• Interesting fossils facts for kids include facts such as Acrocanthosaurus was the carnivorous two-footed dinosaur that lived in 'present North America' nearly 125 to 100 million years ago! Its fossil was obtained in Oklahoma, Texas.
• Not only the information about dinosaurs but also about other animal species was collected from fossils. Scientists could study Tasmania tiger facts as they gathered information from fossils and aboriginal art. These tigers were present in Australia in large numbers about 2000 years ago but now they are included in the list of 'extinct animals'.
• Fossils are also found in hardened lava from volcanic eruptions. Scientists can make duplicates of the original animals or insects by filling in the mold (shape left by the animal matter) with plaster, wax, or other suitable materials.
• Generally, the hard part of the animal, bones, teeth, shell is fossilized easily because these hard parts can withstand natural destruction. Archaeologists have discovered the oldest fish fossil in Yunnan Province, China. The fish existed 530 million years ago. Scientists were able to explain the evolution of the Earth with the help of discovered fossils belonging to the last 600 million years.
• Megalodon facts inform us that the jaw and teeth of this huge shark were so robust that it could have gulped an entire elephant or a large white shark easily. Fossils of the teeth of this huge shark were discovered in Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, North and South America. Now this shark is included in the list of extinct animals.

Scientists can get reliable data on the earliest life on earth by observing fossils. Remember, discovering fossils of bone does not mean that scientists have found the actual bone. It means that scientists have got only the traces or impressions of living things and the traces of their activities. The fossilized object usually looks like a rock. If these fossils were not formed or if these fossils had not been discovered, then several questions about human evolution would have still remained unanswered. I hope the above fossils facts helped create interest in paleontology.