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Vocabulary
Fossil Formation
Learning from Fossils
More Facts
Fast Facts
100
describes a group of living things that is no longer living
What is extinct
100
A sedimentary rock is ....

A rock that has formed from sand, mud, and small pieces of rock

100
Scientists may learn what an animal ate by looking at the shapes of this fossil item.
What are teeth?
100

What did animals with sharp teeth eat? What are they called?

Meat. Carnivores.

100
Layers of a rock can be used to tell how _________ a fossil is.
What is old?
200
the hardened remains of a living thing that died long ago
What is a fossil
200
Animal fossils are more common than plant fossils because plants have this.
What are softer body parts?
200

By identifying how fossils in one location are different from the organisms that are living today in that same location, we can infer that the environment has ____

What is changed?

200

What did animals with flat teeth eat? What are they called?

Plants. Herbivores.

200
Deeper layers of rock are ___________ than the layers above.
What is older?
300
the shape of a once-living thing left in sediment; it is a cavity shaped like the plant or animal
What is a mold
300
We do not know what many ancient plants look like because they did this before they could form a fossil.
What is rotted away?
300
Scientists compare animal fossils to similar animals that are alive today. For example the elephant and the mammoth both have these.
What are tusks?
300

An animal that exist in water is called ...

What is aquatic?

300

Sedimentary rock is formed by...

Compression/compaction
400
forms when mud or minerals later fill a mold; it is the actual shape of the once-living thing
What is a cast
400
Fossils are usually found in this type of rock
What is sedimentary?
400
If two fossils are found in the same rock, scientists can infer that these two things did this.
What is lived at the same time?
400

Animals that exist on land are called ...

What is terrestrial?

400
An animal still looks much like it did millions of years ago so we can infer this about a fossil of that animal.
The fossil of the animal will much like the animal that is still living today.
500
when an insect gets stuck in tree sap and the sap hardens
What is amber
500
Describe the steps for a fossil to form in sedimentary rock.
1) soft parts of the animal decompose 2) hard parts of the animal are buried under layers of sediment 3) the bones and sediment turn into rock
500

By looking at a fossil jawbone you may learn....

What did an animal eat?

500

A scientist who studies fossils is called?

What is a paleontologist?

500
Suppose a plant and animal die on the same day. Which one will most likely become a fossil? Why?
The animal because it has more hard parts than the plant