Fossils tell us about past
By studying the fossil record scientists can tell how long life has existed on Earth, and how plants, animals and humans evolved
Since the life has started on the Blue Planet, many of the plant and animals species have either gone extinct or evolved into some modern species. Here, the fossils help researchers learn about those plants and animals that existed long ago.
It was the fossil remains — unearthed and studied — that informed the paleontologists learn what they know today about dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers. Fossils provide an important record of the species that otherwise may never have been discovered because they died long before people began keeping records. Scientists can put together how the plant or animal looked based on its skeletal structure, discover what the animals ate, and where they lived and how they died.
Species evolve over a long period of time, and it occurs so slowly that it is difficult to know when and where a species has evolved or extincted. However, by studying fossils, researchers identified the first amphibious creatures that developed legs, a discovery that led to discerning the first species that evolved to live on land.
The study of fossils also can identify some factors that influenced evolutionary change. For example, drastic climate changes killed some species entirely, or allowed some that adapted to the new environment to survive, or a new one came into existence.
Yes, the study of fossils also provides information about climate change. Like, scientists knew that a comet hit the Earth, an event that dramatically changing the conditions for life and wiped out the dinosaurs from the Earth. Another drastic shift in climate led to the Ice Age, which killed off many species and changed life on Earth.
Scientists learn this information by determining the age of fossils that are discovered and studying other clues found in the same soil layers where they found the fossils.Fossils of human remains and of plants and animals provide insight into how people lived in the past.
Plant and animal fossils from near the remains of old human settlements showed what people ate, their tools and their culture. If signs of disease are found in plant or animal fossils, scientists can deduce that the people of that era may have suffered the same disease.
Understanding what people ate also provides information about how they lived, such as whether they were hunters or reared cattle or began growing crops for food.A fossil layer can also include artifacts from ancient cultures, such as tools or pottery and inform the scientists about what kind of life was led by people of that era.
