WHAT CAN FOSSILS TELL US ABOUT HOW LIVING THINGS HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME?

Photo: Jelle The first evidence for life on Earth suggests it began around 3.8 billion years ago

Our own species Homo sapiens evolved around 200,000 years ago. So we humans have been around for only 0.004% of the Earth’s history! Photo: Kevin Gill Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of once living animals and plants

Photo: Liza Body fossils are the preserved remains of the actual body parts of an animal or plant

Photo: Laurence Ireland Trace fossils record the ancient activity of an animal

Photo: James St. John

These are fossilised poos (coprolites)! Photo: Oregon State University

Ancient Spider Attack!

This is the only fossil ever discovered that shows a spider attacking prey in its web. Preserved in amber, it’s about 100 million years old. The reconstructed skeleton of a woolly mammoth. It was preserved in ice for millions of years

Photo: Chris Bewick Fossilised (Petrified) Wood

Photo: James St. John

Photo: Elvert Barnes

These fossils are around 200 million years old. You can still see the original concentric ring structure of the wood Photo: CameliaTWU Fossil Moulds

A Fossil Cast Photo: fine_plan A Body Fossil: Dinosaur Bone in Sedimentary Rocks, Colorado, USA

Photo: James St. John

This is a hip bone of a sauropod Sauropod Dinosaur: Diplodocus

Photo: Valdiney Pimenta Sauropods had huge bodies, walked on four legs and had very long tails and necks A Trace Fossil: Sauropod Dinosaur Footprint Bulge, Colorado, USA

Photo: James St. John Reconstruction of Sauropod Dinosaurs Making Footprints in Sand

Photo: James St. John Fossilised Tree Squirrel, Oregon

Photo: Ian Sane Photo: Bureau of Land Management

The anatomy is nearly identical to living tree squirrels, showing that they have changed very little The Evolution of The Horse

Photo: Elesapiens

Fossils show that over 60 million years the horse evolved from a dog-sized creature living in rainforests into an animal adapted to living on the plains, standing up to 2 metres high Ammonites

How you ever found one of these on a beach?

Photo: David Short

They are fossils of sea creatures that became extinct about 65 million years ago

Photo: Lebatihem Mary Anning 1799-1847

Photo: ellenm1

Fossil hunter and palaeontologist

Found important fossils of prehistoric animals in the cliffs at Lyme Regis, Dorset. In 1811, Mary Anning uncovered a 5 metre long skeleton of an ancient sea reptile – it came to be known as Ichthyosaur

Photo: Lebatihem