People have learned about what Earth was like millions of years ago.
Studying fossils helps us know.
Fossils were living animals or plants long long ago.
They were covered up with layers of mud that got hard.
After thousands of years
People have learned about what Earth was like millions of years ago.
Studying fossils helps us know.
Fossils were living animals or plants long long ago.
They were covered up with layers of mud that got hard.
After thousands of years the rock wears away and we see the fossil.
What are fossils?
Fossils are the remains of a dead animal or plant that has been preserved in rock. They are clues to a time long ago, before there was a recorded history.
Sometimes the fossil is just an imprint such as a footprint, or even an animal's dung.
Fossils are generally found in rocks that were once under water.
An animal or plant died and was first covered by mud, and the soft parts decayed, leaving hard material (like bones or shell). Over thousands of years, many layers of soil or mud built up and were squeezed together. Water containing minerals seeped through the layers and changed the plant or animal into rock. Then over more hundreds of years, erosion has worn away the rock and people discover the fossils as they become exposed.
Sometimes a fossil can be similar to an animal alive today, and the differences can tell scientists how that animal has evolved.
Fallen trees become fossilised in the same way. Fossilised wood is called petrified wood.
Tree sap that has oozed from a tree can be fossilised into a stone called amber. Sometimes small insects trapped in the stick