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Fossils are the remains or traces of ancient plants and animals, providing insights into past life and extinction events. They can be formed from actual remains or activity records, and their study helps scientists understand the causes of extinction and the history of life on Earth. The La Brea Tar Pits is a notable fossil site where many ancient animals were preserved, and paleontologists use specialized tools to excavate and study these fossils.

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fossils-extinction-reading-material-grades-3-5

Fossils are the remains or traces of ancient plants and animals, providing insights into past life and extinction events. They can be formed from actual remains or activity records, and their study helps scientists understand the causes of extinction and the history of life on Earth. The La Brea Tar Pits is a notable fossil site where many ancient animals were preserved, and paleontologists use specialized tools to excavate and study these fossils.

Uploaded by

Moon Knight
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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READING MATERIAL

Read About Fossils and Extinction

FOSSIL DEFINITION
Fossils are the remains or traces of plants and animals that live a long time ago. Fossils
help scientists understand what life was like millions of years ago. Some fossils provide
evidence of living things that have gone extinct, which means they no longer found alive
anywhere on earth today.

To learn more about fossils and extinction…

LET’S BREAK IT DOWN!

A fossil is the remains or traces of prehistoric life.


Fossils are the preserved remains of
an animal, such as the animal’s
bones, or impressions of the animal's
activities, such as footprints. Even
poop can be considered a fossil.

It's important to remember that


plants can be fossils too!

Fossils can be found all over the


world, however, there are areas that have a lot more fossils than other areas.

Page 1
An extinct animal is one that is no longer found on Earth
today.
When an entire type of animal dies
out, they are extinct. Extinct animals
are gone forever.

Fossils help us understand why an


animal went extinct. Some
extinctions were caused by sudden
changes in an organism’s habitat
such as floods, wildfires, or other
natural events. Hunting, habitat loss, and pollution are common reasons why organisms go
extinct today.

Fossils provide evidence about past life and their


environment.
Scientists can learn a lot about the
history of life from fossils, such as
what types of animals live in a
particular location.

We know that the area that is now


Mt. Everest was once at the bottom
of the sea because scientists found
fossils of ocean animals there.

By looking at the teeth of extinct animals, scientists are able to determine their diet. When fossils
with long pointed teeth are found, scientists know that the animal was a carnivore (animals that
eat meat). If a fossil with flat, smooth teeth is found, the animal is likely a herbivore (animals that
eat plants).

Also, the size and shape of the skull are used to determine the size of an animal. Scientists can
even use dinosaur footprints to determine how fast the dinosaur ran, how many legs it had, and
if it traveled alone or in groups.
How did plants and animals become fossils?
Fossils can be made from the actual
remains of an organism (like bones,
teeth, shells or leaves), or they can
be preserved records of a living
thing's activity (like footprints or
animal droppings). Only a small
number of organisms have become
fossilized.

When living things die, they typically don’t leave anything behind. If an animal was quickly
buried after it died, the bones or shells may have been left behind. Over time, the sediment over
the dead organism hardens into rock. Fossils are revealed when something like erosion brings
their remains to the surface and they are discovered.
FOSSIL EXAMPLES

Many fossils have been Most dinosaur fossils have Paleontologists and
discovered at the La Brea been found in North dentists use the same
Tar Pits in Los Angeles, America, China and types of tools. These small
California. Ancient animals Argentina. So many fossils tools help paleontologist
got stuck and were have been found in the carefully remove debris
preserved as fossils in United States that each around tiny fossils without
asphalt pits, thousands of state has its own breaking them.
years ago. designated fossil.

FOSSILS AND EXTINCTION VOCABULARY

Fossil Remains or traces of plants and animals that lived a long time ago.

Extinct A living thing that is no longer found alive anywhere on earth today.

Saber- A huge cat with two long, saber-shaped teeth that it used for hunting. It went extinct
Toothed Cat about 11,000 years ago and fossils of it are found in places like the La Brea Tar Pits.

A fossil dig site located in the middle of Los Angeles. They have found over 1 million
La Brea Tar fossils there. About 50,000 years ago, many animals were trapped here in a sticky black
Pits substance that oozes from cracks in the earth’s surface (asphalt). Animals got stuck
and were preserved as fossils.

Paleontologist A scientist that studies fossils.

A type of wolf that lived in North America, but went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Its
Dire Wolf
teeth are larger than wolves of today and it ate horses, ground sloths, mastodons,
bison, and camels!

FOSSILS AND EXTINCTION DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Why are so many fossils found in the La Brea Tar Pits fossil dig site?
Many animals became trapped in a thick, sticky liquid called asphalt that seeped through
cracks at the Earth’s surface. They got stuck and died and their bones were preserved.

What tools are used to remove fossils from the rock?


Dental picks are used to carefully scrape away small amounts of rock from the fossil. Other tools
include brushes to sweep away dirt and a chisel and hammer, which is used to chip away at
harder surfaces.

What happens to the fossils after they are removed from the tar pit?
When fossils are dug out of the ground, they still have rock or asphalt around them. The fossils
are taken to a lab to be further cleaned before they are categorized and studied.

What does a Fossil Preparator do?


Fossil Preparators receive fossils that come from the dig site and clean them! At the La Brea Tar
Pits, asphalt can be dissolved from the fossils using a special liquid. For types of rock other than
asphalt, Fossil Preparators must clean fossils using additional tools.

What are some of the types of animals that are found at the La Brea Tar Pits?
Animal fossils found at the La Brea Tar Pits include horses, saber-toothed cats, short-faced
bears, mammoths, giant sloths and dire wolves. In total they have found over 1 million fossils.

Explain how we know that one of the skulls is a carnivore and the other is a
herbivore.
Zoe notices that the teeth from one of the skulls are flat and the teeth from the other one are
sharp. She knows that animals that exist today that have flat teeth (like cows or horses) eat
grass and that animals with sharp teeth, like cats, eat meat.

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