Vignette on fossils Pass fossils through – you can remove tags to look at fossils, but please replace them These are my own, for the most part collected by myself – it is not hard to find fossils! You just have to know where to look Please return all to the basket
Ammonites Extinct! (=such animals do not exist/live today) They lived 220 – 65 million years ago in the sea Fossils
Cephalopods Are a group of marine mollusks (related to snails & clams) Intelligent; many arms (tentacles) Some are alive today! (Octopus, “Kraken”, Nautilus, Squid, “Calamares”) Others are extinct and only known from fossils: Ammonites, Belemnites, etc. Fossils
Cephalopods today Fossils
Extinct cephalopods Fossils Belemnite Ammonite
First things to notice about fossils: Often hard to tell what they are! Sometimes show animals or plants that do not exist any more (=are extinct) Often show animals or plants that don’t live in the same place any more (seashell fossils found on mountaintops) Usually hard-shelled parts fossilize, mostly from marine animals Fossils
Fascinating fossil facts Oldest fossils are almost as old as the planet!!! First complex animal fossils from about 0.5 billion years ago Usually form when dead animal is covered by sediment under water; sometimes in bogs/swamps; rarely deserts Fossils
Dinosaur footprints Footprints and tracks
Dinosaur footprints Footprints and tracks