How Fossils Are Formed

Hello there. I'm frannie the paleontologist, and I'd like to welcome you to my lab. Paleontologists are people that study fossils for a living. What are fossils? Fossils are the remains of ancient plants and animals. They are at least 3000 years old and are found in the ground. Let me show you a few of my favorite fossils. These dinosaur tracks are called trace fossils, trace fossils also come in the form of bite marks, nests, and droppings. By setting trace fossils, we can learn a lot about how an animal lived and cared for its young. This ancient sea creature is a mold fossil, mold fossils are made when an animal or plant is destroyed, but the mud around it hardens quickly and makes a mold of its shape. Check out this chunk of amber, it's a resin fossil. If you look closer, you can see a tiny fly inside. Resin fossils are made when small creatures get caught in a tree sticky SAP. This SAP gradually becomes hard amber, which preserves their bodies. Here's my favorite fossil, a body fossil of a dinosaur called archaeopteryx. Most body fossils are teeth and bones that have changed into stone. Dinosaur body fossils are extremely rare because it takes a very special set of conditions for them to form. How are dinosaur body fossils made? Most dino body fossils form when a dinosaur dies near or in water, and is buried by mud before animals could eat it and scatter its bones. The soft parts of the body right away, but the dinosaur skeleton sometimes survives long enough to be preserved. Minerals in the surrounding mud harden the bones, making them tough as rocks. Over millions of years the dinosaur ants ancient landscape are buried by layers of dirt, and the remains of other dead plants and animals, all the while the diameter of fossil remains hidden and undisturbed. Many years later, wind, rain, and ice where down the layers covering the fossil, exposing the ancient bones. Paleontologists are always searching the globe for dinosaur bones, and sometimes they spot them peeking through ground. At this point the lucky fossil hunter will celebrate his mind, and set to work carefully lifting it out from The Rock. He then takes it back to the lab to study and learn from his there you have it. That's how dinosaur body fossils are made.