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. S cientists 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. All rights reserved. Photograph by Corel Mega Gallery.