Fantastic Fossils
This is the preserved remains or trace of an organism that lived in the past.
Fossil
This internal structure provides support and protection for a human's vital organs.
Skeleton
This ancient relative of the American Alligator grew to be 35 feet long.
Deinosuchus
This invisible force from Earth pulls objects toward the ground.
Gravity
This process involves breaking down rocks into smaller pieces over time.
This type of fossil is an "impression," like a footprint in the mud.
External structures like fur, hooves, or claws aid an organism in this.
Survival
Both the Megalodon and modern sharks share this same structure shape.
Teeth
This type of force is created when two objects rub against each other.
Friction
When rocks and sediment are moved from one place to another by wind or water.
Erosion
Fossils provide info about where, when, and how an organism lived, and these conditions.
Environmental conditions
This bird "beak" was the most successful at picking up small seeds in the simulation.
Tweezers
Unlike the African Elephant, its ancient relative, the Woolly Mammoth, had this.
Thick fur
Weathering can be modeled in a lab using sugar cubes and this container.
a jar
This type of rock is formed from layers of sediment pressed together over millions of years.
Sedimentary Rock
Ancient alligators and mollusks are very similar to these types of organisms.
Existing or modern organisms
This organ in rodents grows continually because eating wears it down.
Teeth
Horseshoe crabs found as fossils are very similar to those found here today.
In the ocean
This process causes Earth's surface to change over long periods of time.
erosion (or the rock cycle)
Scientists look at these deep "lines" in a canyon to see different time periods of Earth.
Rock Layers (or Strata)
These fossils are the "Real Deal," like a shark tooth or an actual skeleton
Preserved parts
This gray fox behavior helps it escape from predators.
climbing trees
If an ancient organism looks very different from its relative today, it has undergone this.
variation (or adaptation/change)
This "rain" tool is used to test sandcastle protection from erosion.
Spray bottle
a continuous geological process that describes how rocks change from one type to another over geologic time.
the rock cycle