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THE BONES |
& ROCKS |
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 Dinosaurs don't live today, so scientists have to learn about them entirely from fossilized remains found in the earth. Fossils are the stone remains of dead animals that may have lived hundreds of millions of years ago. Not everything that dies becomes a fossil. Most animals or plants that die decay before they can become fossilized. Under the right conditions, however, a dead creature can leave an imprint in the soil around it. This imprint may harden or become filled with another substance and become a fossil. Some examples of fossils are a dinosaur skeleton, a dinosaur footprint, or the imprint of an ancient plant. Scientists who study fossils are called paleontologists. Paleontologists use the fossilized remains of plants and animals to figure out how they lived. For instance, a fossilized skull can tell a paleontologist where the animal's eyes were, what it ate, and what the dinosaur looked like. |
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