Study Guide Science Grade 4 Fossils and Extinct Animals
Study Guide Science Grade 4 Fossils and Extinct Animals
Extinct Animals
Many animals have become extinct over millions of years. Extinct means
that no longer living on Earth. When a species is extinct, it means there
aren’t any animals of that kind living on Earth. Animals that are extinct
include dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, and dodo birds.
Lesson Checkpoint:
Name one animal that you know is extinct.
Lesson Checkpoint:
What is one reason animals become extinct?
Fossils
How do we know about animals that once lived on the Earth millions of years
ago but are now extinct? Answer is…(drum roll please)…by studying fossils!
A fossil is the remains or evidence of a once-living organism from long
ago. Fossils form in sedimentary rock.
Step #2: The animal’s dead body settles to the bottom of body of water.
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After death and once in its final resting place, the soft part of an animal’s
body will decay. Decay means to break down or rot.
Step #3: The animal’s dead body is covered with sand, dirt, and mud
(sediment) forming many layers on top of animal’s remains.
Step #4: The last step in becoming a fossil is the fossil appearing above
ground. Over many, many years the rock layers weather and
erode away, causing the fossil to become exposed.
Lesson Checkpoint:
What is the first step in fossil formation?
Types of Fossils
Fossils are formed in different ways. A space that is found in rock that is in
the shape of an animal that once lived on Earth is a fossil called a mold.
Below you can see sea shell shapes etched in the rock. These are fossil
molds from the shells.
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A fossil that is made when the mold of an animal in rock is filled in with
other rock material is called a cast.
Some fossils are even found in hardened tree sap. Hardened tree sap is
known as amber. Organisms’ bodies can be preserved in amber for millions
of years.
Lesson Checkpoint:
What is one type of fossil and how is it formed?
Fossils can tell us a lot of information…like what, when, where, and
how old
Fossils give clues to what the Earth was like millions of years
ago.
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WHEN: Fossils can also tell when certain animals lived on Earth
according to the layer of rock the fossils are found in. Fossils
buried deeper are older than the fossils found above them.
WHERE: Scientists can figure out where organisms once lived by where
they find its fossil.
HOW OLD: Scientists can often figure out how old a fossil is according to
the layer of rock it is found in.
Lesson Checkpoint:
What information do scientists get from fossils?
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