HOW ARE ANIMALS FROM THE PAST LIKE TODAY’S

ANIMALS?

Fossils show the kind of animals that lived long ago.

Today’s animals are similar in some ways to animals of the

past that have disappear.

A fossil is usually not the actual bone or part . A fossil is rock in

the shape of the part.

A space in the shape of an animal in rock is called FOSSIL

MOLD.

If the mold gets filled in with rock material over time, the

fossil is called a CAST.

This fossil cast is of a dinosaur skull about 125 million years

old!It looks like an actual crocodile.

ANCIENT INSECTSSome small animals have been found in hardenedtree sap called amber.

Long ago an insectmight have becometrapped in it and then the sap covered the complete insect’s body.

Long ago, this spider got trapped in sticky tree sap that

hardened into amber.

HOW ANIMALS TODAY COMPARE TO THOSE OF

LONG AGO

Fossils can tell us how animals have changed over time.

Dinosaurs are extinct.

Badlands South Dakota65 millions years ago

Hot and wet. Many plants.

Badlands South Dakota

Actual picture

Only animals that are adapted to hot, dry conditions can live there now.

What does this fossil look like?