Fossils and dinosaurs

Students know that fossils provide evidence about the plants and animals that lived long ago and that scientists learn about the past history of Earth by studying fossils... A fossil

Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content

Nonfi ction Use Graphic

Organizers

• Captions

• Diagrams

• Labels

• Glossary

Fossils and Dinosaurs

Scott Foresman Science 2.7

Standards Preview

Standard Set 3 Earth Sciences

3 Earth is made of materials that

have distinct properties and provide

resources for human activities As the

basis for understanding this concept:

3.d Students know that fossils provide

evidence about the plants and animals

that lived long ago and that scientists

learn about the past history of Earth

by studying fossils.

ISBN 0-328-23513-X

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Earth Sciences

by Peggy Bresnick Kendler

dinosaur

fossil

skeleton

Picture Credits

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publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions.

Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the copyright of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Pearson.

ISBN: 0-328-23513-X

Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America

This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any

prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means, electronic,

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Fossils

by Peggy Bresnick Kendler

What is a fossil?

A fossil is a print or part of a plant or

animal that lived long ago

Some old bones are fossils

Shapes left in rocks can also be fossils

This is a fi sh fossil.

3

Scientists study fossils

They study them to learn about living things from long ago

This scientist is digging up fossils.

What Fossils Show

Some fossils are of living things that no

longer live on Earth

Fossils show the size and shape those

living things had

A Fossil Is Formed

5

Look how the lizard fossil formed

The lizard died

It got covered in mud and sand

The sand and mud turned to rock

The pictures show how some fossils are formed.

How do we learn

about life long

ago?

Scientists pick up clues about the past

from fossils

This helps them learn about life on Earth

long ago

This scientist is trying to build

a dinosaur skeleton.

7

Scientists can fi nd fossils that are old dinosaur bones

They can build skeletons from the fossils

A skeleton is all the bones of a body

This is the skeleton

of an animal called

a dinosaur.

Dinosaurs on Earth

Dinosaurs were animals that lived on

Earth long ago

Their fossils can show how they lived

and what they looked like

9

Fossils can show how Earth has changed

The picture shows how Earth might have been when dinosaurs lived

Earth might have looked like this.

New Discoveries

Scientists found a tyrannosauroid

skeleton in China

This dinosaur ate meat

It was about 2 meters long

Its feathers kept it warm

But it could not fl y

Tyrannosauroid skull

11

Scientists rebuilt the tyrannosauroid

Look at the picture

It shows what the dinosaur might have looked like

This is a drawing of a tyrannosauroid.

What were

dinosaurs like?

Scientists learn from dinosaur fossils

These fossils show things about dinosaurs

Some dinosaurs were very big

Others were small

Compsognathus

13

Many kinds of dinosaurs lived on Earth

No dinosaurs live on Earth today

Gallimimus

Dinosaur Food

Scientists study what dinosaurs ate

Some dinosaurs had long, sharp teeth

They ate animal meat

Other dinosaurs had short, fl at teeth

These dinosaurs ate plants

Tyrannosaurus rex

ate meat.

15

Here you see a Triceratops skull

Triceratops had fl at teeth and ate plants

The three horns on its head may have protected it

Triceratops ate plants.

How are plants

and animals of

long ago like

those today?

Footprints help us learn about animals

An Iguanodon footprint shows that this

dinosaur probably walked on its toes

See the bear footprints? Bears walk with

their feet and toes fl at on the ground

Iguanodon footprints Bear footprints

17

Some birds from long ago had feathers and beaks

Birds today have these things

Some birds from long ago had sharp teeth and long, bony tails

Now most birds do not have these things

Archaeopteryx fossil

Canada goose

Plants Long Ago and Today

Plant fossils show the size of plants from

the past

They show the shape of these plants too

Scientists study plant fossils

They learn how plants from long ago

are like plants today

This kind of fern

lives today.

19

Ferns lived long ago and still live today

Living ferns look like fossil ferns

Plant fossils are sometimes black

Today’s plants are green

Plants from long ago were also probably green

A fern fossil

dinosaur animal that lived on Earth long ago

fossil a print or part of a plant or

animal that lived long ago

skeleton all of the bones of a body

1 Why might a Triceratops have had horns?

2 How are birds from the past and today’s birds

different?

3 Write about a time you saw a fossil in a museum or in a book Use details to describe what the fossil was like.

4 Use Graphic Organizers Tell how fossils

are formed Use a graphic organizer to show what happens.