Dig into the past with fascinating fossils, prehistoric clues, and mysteries preserved in stone.
National Fossil Day celebrates fossils and the incredible clues they preserve about plants and animals that lived long ago. Paleontologists study bones, shells, leaves, footprints, and other evidence to learn more about creatures and environments of the past.
Not every fossil is a bone! Footprints, burrows, and even fossilized poop (called coprolites) can preserve evidence of ancient life.
by Bill Thomson
This nearly wordless picture book begins when a boy discovers a fossil hidden inside a rock—and suddenly prehistoric life starts springing from the stone!
Because the illustrations tell the story without traditional text, readers get to become storytellers themselves. Pause as you read to describe what you notice, predict what might happen next, and imagine what you would do if one of your fossil discoveries suddenly came to life.
What does the fossil look like? Which parts of the creature can you see? What clues might reveal how it moved, what it ate, or where it lived? Finally, share your best theory: What kind of creature do you think you’ve discovered?
Create your own fossil-like impressions using air-dry clay and objects from around the house or yard. Try pressing in a leaf, shell, twig, feather, or small dinosaur figure, then carefully lift it away to reveal the impression.
Once your fossils dry, trade them with someone else and become fossil detectives.
Can you figure out what made each impression just by studying the clues it left behind?
For step-by-step directions, try the University of Alaska Museum of the North’s Make an Impression Fossil activity, created through a National Park Service cooperative project.
Every adventure has another path to follow. Choose a trail and see where your curiosity leads!
Coprolites are fossilized animal droppings—and they’re surprisingly useful clues! Scientists can sometimes find bones, teeth, plant material, or other remains inside them that reveal what an animal ate.
Wonder Challenge: Look up photographs of real coprolites from Fossil Butte National Monument. What clues have scientists found inside coprolites that help them figure out what an animal ate?
Meet Mary Anning, the pioneering fossil hunter who made extraordinary discoveries along England’s Jurassic Coast in the early 1800s.
Wonder Challenge: Look up Mary Anning’s ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, and pterosaur discoveries. Which fossil looks most surprising to you?
At Ashfall Fossil Beds in Nebraska, hundreds of animals—including rhinos, horses, camels, birds, and turtles—were preserved after volcanic ash covered a waterhole. Many of the skeletons remained remarkably complete, giving scientists an unusual look at the animals that were there.
Wonder Challenge: Look up photographs of the Ashfall Fossil Beds Rhino Barn. How many different kinds of animals can you spot preserved together in the ash?
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