Let’s talk fossils

Was there a time in your childhood when you told your parents, ‘I want to study dinosaurs when I grow up!’? On National Fossil Day, we encourage you to channel that childhood curiosity. The event, a celebration of paleontology, often includes activities at local museums, parks, and schools. Participants may get to see amazing remnants of the past, such as the dinosaur tracks on our homepage, which were photographed near Tuba City, Arizona, in the Navajo Nation.

Paleontologists from Northern Arizona University have determined that these tracks were formed in the early Jurassic Period, which started approximately 200 million years ago, when the ancestors of dinosaurs like the stegosaurus, brontosaurus, and brachiosaurus began roaming North America. (The specific type of dinosaur that left these tracks can’t be verified). Bones are often the first thing that comes to mind when fossils are mentioned, but the term also encompasses elements such as footprints, burrows, and feeding marks, which are all examples of ‘trace fossils.’

Daily Pic ^10/17/17

Elk River in British Columbia, Canada