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CLUES TO THE PAST

When you hear the word fossil, you probably picture a dinosaur bone or even a whole dinosaur skeleton. But really, a fossil is anything that’s left of a plant, animal, or any living thing long after it dies. That could be a body part, a footprint, or even the shape of a leaf or stem left in a rock.

A body fossil is created when a plant or animal dies and is quickly covered up by something like sand or mud. The soft parts rot away. Over thousands and thousands of years, the hard parts are replaced by minerals (the stuff rocks are made of).

As the earth shifts and soil wears away, the fossil shifts with it. Eventually, the fossil may pop out for people to find.

A trace fossil isn’t a body part. It’s the footprints, burrows, or other signs of a living thing left behind in the rock. Just like body fossils, trace fossils give us important clues to how dinosaurs and other ancient animals lived.

Even poop can become a trace fossil! A piece of fossil poop is called a coprolite (KAHP-roh-lite). Scientists learn about what dinosaurs ate from studying coprolites.