Webinar: Natural History at Home – What Is a Fossil?
March 19, 2022
Katie Derloshon:
And hello again to all of the families that have said hello, and welcome to those who have just joined us. My name is Katie, and I'm excited to welcome you to today's program, What is a fossil? Now together, we will learn more about what makes a fossil, a fossil. We'll investigate fossils to see what we can learn about ancient life, and we're going to create our own fossil-like objects. Now, be sure to have your materials ready to go, as well as a space to work on your artwork together. So, you'll need at least some modeling clay or a dough, something to mold or to create your own fossil-like objects, paper, and a pencil. But, if you don't have any modeling clay or dough, you can always make drawings as you follow along.
Now, today, I'm joining you from Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center here in the museum. Q?rius is our object-based interactive space, where visitors have the opportunity to learn by handling over 6,000 real museum objects that represent the seven disciplines our scientists focus on here at the museum. And I'm joined by a fellow museum educator, Efrain, who is here at the museum too. Hey. And Efrain is going to help us answer this question today of what is a fossil? But first we need to go find him. So Efrain, can you hear us?
Efrain Tejada:
Hey, Katie, I sure can hear you. Hey families. Hello everyone. Thanks for being with us today. My name is Efrain Tejada, and I am an educator here at the National Museum of Natural History, and I'm very excited to be with you all here from inside the museum. It has been a long time since last time we actually hosted programs from inside the museum.
Katie Derloshon:
Yes, I'm excited too. So Efrain, and I agree, it's really super neat to be back in the museum, especially back with you, too. So I see that you are also in Q?rius, but can you tell us a little bit about where you are in Q?rius, and what is all that stuff that's around you?
Efrain Tejada:
Absolutely. So today, I am also joining you from Q?rius, The Coralyn W. Whitney Science Education Center here at the Natural History Museum. So, this is our interactive space, like Katie mentioned, and it houses over 6,000 different specimens for you to explore. So, if you're ever at the museum, please come and visit us, and you'll have the opportunity to look at drawers full of different specimens...
Katie Derloshon:
Ex-
Efrain Tejada:
... [crosstalk 00:02:26] are full of different objects, that represent the various disciplines here at the museum. But if you ever visit, make sure to visit the website prior your arrival, to make sure that we are open, but we're excited to be here with you.
Katie Derloshon:
Yes. Wow, it is super exciting to be back at the museum, Efrain. And I hope that our families at home can also come and check out Q?rius once it's open again, to see all of those amazing things that are around you. But Efrain, can we just dig into today's question of what is a fossil?
Efrain Tejada:
Absolutely. But first, I am curious to hear what families already know about fossils. I am going to start making my way over where you are, but while I do that, families at home, please share with us in the Q&A what you already know about fossils. And I will see you in just a couple seconds.
Katie Derloshon:
Ooh, great idea. Okay. So, thinking about what we already know can help guide us, or figure out what else we need help on, or what information we need to know about the topic we're studying, right? So, please share with us in the Q&A what you already know about fossils, as well as if you have any questions, you can share those too. Ooh. Okay. So Callie's saying, "Fossils are old." Christina's saying, "Fossils are bones from thousands to millions of years ago." "Fossils can be bones," Harry's saying. The Blue Yonder Academy says that "Fossils are stuff that have been surrounded by rock." Yeah, they've been definitely surrounded by rock. Sometimes even squashed by rock.
Carol's saying, "It could be part of a dinosaur, it could be its teeth, or even its bones." [Fena's 00:04:09] saying, "Bones that are preserved in rocks." Yes, "Fossils are bones, usually from dinosaurs," Sydney's saying. Taylor says that, "They can be from extinct animals." And Anna's saying that, "Fossils can also be plants." Wow, okay. And Emma is also saying, I think it's Emma, Emma and Melissa are saying that, "Sometimes, fossils are fragile." Ooh.
Efrain, that "fossils are fragile" has me thinking of a question, right? So the families just shared a lot of information about fossils. They shared that they're evidence of ancient life, that they're the body parts or remains of animals, or maybe even plants from a long time ago. But one question that I'm thinking right away has to go with the fact that fossils are fragile. So, people are also saying that they see fossils inside museums. And so we're thinking, and I'm seeing in the Q&A too, one family's wanting to know if all the fossils inside of the museum are real, or if some of them are just made to look real. And Efrain has joined me here, I'm going to pull him in the camera too. Hey.
Efrain Tejada:
Hello everyone. So, that is an excellent question, Katie. So, to answer this question, this is why we ask our families to bring some type of modeling clay for today's activity. So, many of the fossils that you will find at our museum are real fossils, but some of them are really high-quality museum replicas. Some fossils are so fragile, and might damage easily. So the cast, or replicas, are designed to look exactly like the real object. This helps to preserve, or keep safe, the fossil, but also still allows for people to learn from it.
Here is a picture of a ceratopsian skull from our Deep Time exhibit. This is a real fossil of a dinosaur skull, but paleontologists had to use a cast of a few parts of this skull to make it complete. If a cast or replica is used on display, the museum will have a label showing you which parts are cast and which ones are not. You can see here, the museum label has the cast parts in gray. The horn and part of the nasal area of the skull has been remade in the form of a cast. It still has the same size and shape of the original fossilized part, but this skull might have been damaged, or those pieces were not found with the rest of the skull.
Today, we're going to use our clay or molding material to make our own fossil-like objects based on the shapes and patterns we see in fossils. We can now use the models we make today to help us remember what we learned, and share that information with others.
Katie Derloshon:
That sounds like fun, Efrain. Yeah, totally. And I'm ready to begin with my fossil-like objects, so where do I start?
Efrain Tejada:
All right. So, let's start by learning what a fossil is. So, like one of our families pointed out, fossils are the remains and traces of ancient life. And I'm not talking about last week, I'm talking about long, long time ago. Fossils can be used to help us learn what life looked like, or what life behaved like from a long, long time ago. Our planet is about four and a half billion years old. That is a long time, Katie.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
And has been home to many, many different forms of life. And in fact, scientists are still learning from, and discovering new evidence of ancient life every day.
Katie Derloshon:
That's fascinating, Efrain. So, okay, so fossils show us a lot of information about what life on this planet from a long time ago. But Efrain, how do even scientists know what is a fossil? You told us and the families told us, it's evidence of ancient life, from animals or plants, but what is a fossil? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Do they smell at all? Where are they found? Where do they come from, and how do they even form?
Efrain Tejada:
Those are amazing questions, Katie. But before we look at some specimens, let's go ahead and answer that last questions. How do fossils form?
Katie Derloshon:
Excellent idea. Okay, Efrain, to answer this question, let's take a dive into an ancient marine ecosystem to see one way fossilization could have happened. So, life has interacted with other forms of life on our planet in many different ways. Here, we can see an ancient marine reptile called Tylosaurus getting ready to enjoy a meal of ammonites. Ammonites were another example of an ancient marine animal that had an hard outer shell and a soft inner body. Many animals actually enjoyed eating ammonites. And here you can see Tylosaurus biting into a shell in order to eat that soft inner part. Now sometimes, Tylosauruses might have eaten the entire ammonite in one bite, but other times it might have crushed the shell with the teeth to injure it so it could eat the soft inner parts. Since the Tylosaurus here isn't eating the hard shells, the hard shells have fallen to the bottom of the ocean.
Harder parts of the body, like shells or bones of animals, would've had a better chance at fossilizing because they're harder to break down when left alone. Now, over time, other things would've started to cover up the ammonites, burying them under layers and layers of other matter and rock. These layers created a lot of pressure, which protected the original shape and form of the ammonite shells. As the shell broke down over time, water and minerals filled in the place where the shell once was. And after millions of years, Earth's landscape has changed, allowing land to be where water once was. This shift in Earth's landscape brought some of the fossils that were once buried under the ocean, up to the surface where they can now be discovered.
Efrain Tejada:
That's amazing, and thanks for sharing, Katie. Also, great video, by the way.
Katie Derloshon:
Thanks!
Efrain Tejada:
Yes, over many years, the remains of traces of living organisms went through a long process, buried under many layers of different matter. This process changed their body into the hardened object we know today, and we call a fossil. And now, scientists use fossils as an evidence to learn about what life was like in the past.
Katie Derloshon:
Excellent. Okay, Efrain. Let's get back to some of those other questions though, like, what do fossils look like? And how do they feel?
Efrain Tejada:
Well, Katie, I have here an activity that we all can do together that will help us identify some of the physical characteristics of fossils, and what scientists can learn from them. All the objects that a museum has are called a collection. So collections are important, because they help scientists learn about the natural world around us. I have picked up a few objects from our Q?rius collection for us to explore. And this is just a handful of the collections that are housed here in Q?rius.
Katie Derloshon:
Woo, excellent. Okay, so on our table here, and on the slide at home that families can see, this is the group of specimens that Efrain has brought out for us to look at. But, now what do we do?
Efrain Tejada:
All right. Today, Katie, you and the families will work together to see if we can figure it out, which one of the objects are actual fossils. We will use our prior knowledge and information that the families shared with us earlier today to help guide our exploration. So, here's a slide with some of the fossils and I would like you to take a closer look at it.
Katie Derloshon:
Ooh, okay. So, families at home, reflecting back on what you might already know about fossils, and now looking at some of these that Efrain has shared, talk together about maybe which one of these you think might be a fossil. So, maybe you think it's more than one, but let's just start off with one that you definitely think might be a fossil. And I'm going to launch a poll to see what our families think. You can share, in the poll, which one you think might be a fossil. You can also share in the Q&A what made you and your family choose that one. Ooh! Oh man.
Efrain Tejada:
Answers are trickling in.
Katie Derloshon:
They're trickling in, and Efrain, a lot of them are getting votes that they might be fossils. Ooh.
Efrain Tejada:
This is great.
Katie Derloshon:
It is looking good. Okay. I'm going to close this poll here though, and so get your answers in if you haven't chosen yet already, families! In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Efrain Tejada:
4, 3, 2, 1.
Katie Derloshon:
Closing the poll. All right. Efrain, a lot of our families voted for many of the specimens that we see here, or the objects that we see here. And to me, it was a little tricky, because some of them kind of just look like rocks. But it looks like, to me, a lot of the families were thinking that this one, number four, might have been a fossil. And yeah, I'm thinking maybe too, it kind of reminds me, I have a shirt with a bunch of shapes that look kind of like this. Can we take a closer look at this? And families at home, I'm going to swap my camera over now to our fossil-cam so you can see it up-close.
Efrain Tejada:
All right, so. Excellent job families. Yes, this is an example of a fossilized tooth. Teeth like this is one example that give paleontologists clues as what the animal would have eaten and looked like, or even how big the animal was long, long time ago.
Katie Derloshon:
Okay. So this is a tooth, it's pretty big tooth. What is this? What animal is this tooth from?
Efrain Tejada:
So this is a tooth from a megalodon, found in the southeast United States. Megalodons swum in ancient oceans, but the megalodon that this tooth came from, lived around four million years ago. Even though this fossil was found in southeastern United States, megalodons were ancient sharks that swum right where we're standing right now, Katie. About 50 million years ago, D.C. was underwater, and this area is known to have been home to megalodons.
Katie Derloshon:
What?
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly! Pretty cool, right?
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, that is really cool. And we have a... Actually, I think we have one here in the museum, don't we?
Efrain Tejada:
We sure do. So, if you ever come to the museum, if you go to the cafeteria, there is a 52-foot model of a megalodon in that area. And it shows the visitors that this animal could have actually swum right there where they were standing, million years ago.
But back to this tooth. This megalodon tooth help us learn more about what this animal would have eaten when it was alive. With sharp teeth like this, paleontologists think that the megalodon would have primarily eaten meat. But there are even more clues that help us support the idea that this animal ate meat. Look closer, can you notice these little edges on the tooth, these little, sharp, sharp bumps? And let me get it closer to the camera. Now you can notice the little sharp bumps. So, sharp bumps like this on the side of the teeth are called serrations, and they would help the shark cut through the flesh from other animals. And the tooth can also give us an idea of potentially the animal's size. With a tooth this large, it would need to have a mouth that was pretty, pretty large, as well.
Katie Derloshon:
Wow. That is huge. And Efrain, sharks are one of my favorite animals, so it's really exciting to be so close to a real megalodon fossilized tooth. So, this fossilized tooth is a great example of a fossil that helps us to know about what ancient animals looked like. And for this one, even its eating habits, too. I imagine that there might have been other remains of fossils, or other body animal remains that might have fossilized, to help us know about more of ancient animal life besides just teeth, right?
Efrain Tejada:
That is right. There is actually a couple of other examples that would fit this category in the selection of specimens that are pulled out here. Let's see if our families can find two more examples of potential fossils that give us clue as what an animal's body would have looked like.
Katie Derloshon:
All right, families, so take a closer look at what we have left. Can you find two more choices that you think might be fossils that help us know what an animal's body might have looked like? And I'm going to go ahead and launch the poll again, but this time you can choose more than one option. So, which two do you think might be examples of fossils that would help us to know what an animal's body might have looked like? Ooh. Okay. Lots of answers are coming in again.
Efrain Tejada:
Wow. Our families know a lot about this.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, Efrain. So, all of the options actually got votes, but there are two clear winners for this. So, I'm going to end this poll, thank you for sharing your thoughts, families. And let's take a look, because Efrain, the two that families were thinking might have helped to know about what animals' bodies from the past look like, were numbers three and number six. So, can we start actually looking at number three? Is that a fossil?
Efrain Tejada:
All right. So, in fact it is a fossil. This is an example of a fossil, and is the fossilized shell of an ancient animal called an ammonite. Do you remember that video that we saw at the very beginning where the...
Katie Derloshon:
Tylosaurus?
Efrain Tejada:
Tylosaurus was actually munching on some ammonite? So they were alive for million and millions of years, before the dinosaurs were on our planet. And they were alive during the time of the dinosaurs, too. Ammonites were shelled animals that lived in the ocean. This shell would have been an outer casing to protect the softer parts of the animal. Ammonites would have come in all different sizes. This one is just about three centimeters long, which is smaller than my pinky finger, so you can see. It shows some cool features, such as the spiral pattern and the curving of the shell ...
Katie Derloshon:
Can you push it up a little bit more? There we go. Yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
There you go. Curving of the shell. But, I have another example to show you where we can see that this features even better.
Katie Derloshon:
Ooh.
Efrain Tejada:
Are you ready, Katie?
Katie Derloshon:
I'm ready!
Efrain Tejada:
Families?
Katie Derloshon:
Oh my Gosh!
Efrain Tejada:
This one requires a little bit of shifting.
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa!
Efrain Tejada:
All right. So, this is also another ammonite.
Katie Derloshon:
Actually Efrain, before we take a closer look at it, can we change our camera so you can hold it up and we can see how big this is?
Efrain Tejada:
Absolutely.
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa!
Efrain Tejada:
It is bigger than...
Katie Derloshon:
Than your pinky finger.
Efrain Tejada:
Oh yeah, absolutely. So, if I were to... Hey Katie, could you hold this one for me?
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, of course.
Efrain Tejada:
Look at the comparison.
Katie Derloshon:
And they're both ammonites! That's so cool.
Efrain Tejada:
Ah, so...
Katie Derloshon:
All right. Let's switch back over to the camera.
Efrain Tejada:
All right. But this an amazing example of, also, of a shell fossil. Even though it is larger than the smaller one, you can see similar features. One, you can still see the spiral pattern of the shell, but with this larger fossil, you can actually learn more about the structure of the shell. If you look closely, you can see this puzzle-like pattern that makes the shell. This feature help the shell be really strong, so predators have a harder time biting into it.
Katie Derloshon:
Cool. Yeah, you definitely can see that puzzley-like feature of that shell. Neat, cool. And thanks for showing that larger one, that's really cool. So, teeth and shells are two examples of fossils that help us to know the size or shape of an animal's body from the past. But our families were also thinking that number six could have been an example. So, can we look at that one?
Efrain Tejada:
Absolutely.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, because there were two. All right. Let's see.
Efrain Tejada:
Okay.
Katie Derloshon:
And Efrain, this one? Yeah, let's look at it and then...
Efrain Tejada:
All right.
Katie Derloshon:
To me, I think I can see why families thought so, because it kind of looks like a fish. Is that a fish?
Efrain Tejada:
Yes. So this is a ray-finned fish fossil. All right, try to say that three times. Ray-finned fish fossil. In this fossil, you can see the full size and the shape of the fish. You can even see the scales. The body covering of the animal rarely, rarely preserves. But on here, on this fish, we can still see the pattern of scales and even the shape of the fins, as you can see right here. And if I put it closer...
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa!
Efrain Tejada:
... you can see even more details.
Katie Derloshon:
That is so cool. Excellent.
Efrain Tejada:
And sometimes, Katie, paleontologists will find a fossil of an animal's body, and one that outlines the body of the same type of animal.
Katie Derloshon:
Ooh, you have another one?
Efrain Tejada:
Absolutely. We got plenty of fossils here in Q?rius. Look at these trilobite fossils. Trilobites were an ancient arthropod that lived in the ocean. So, an arthropod is an animal with a segmented body, jointed legs, and an exoskeleton, like lobster, or insects. This ancient arthropod, the trilobite, went extinct about 250 million years ago, before the dinosaur even walked on planet. So these fossils are really old. On these fossils, you can see the fossilized body of a trilobite, like you see right here, which shows some key features of this animal, including its main body sections. Isn't this cool?
Katie Derloshon:
It's like, 3D, yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
Yeah.
Katie Derloshon:
So cool.
Efrain Tejada:
You can see the whole segmented body of the trilobite.
Katie Derloshon:
Cool.
Efrain Tejada:
But you can also see key features in this other fossil too. So this fossil shows where a trilobite died, and the imprint in the ground fossilized, but the body of the trilobite might not have fossilized. So if you can see, this is just the imprint, not the actual body, on this.
Katie Derloshon:
Oh cool. So that one is 3D-ish, but it's because it's sunken in, you know?
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly. And if this would've been from the same species, and they would've been found in situ, you'll have the casing and then you have the body of the animal.
Katie Derloshon:
Wow! That is so cool. Excellent, thanks for sharing. So we just looked at some examples of fossils that show different types of ancient life. These fossil remains helped us to get an idea as to what life could have looked like from a long, long time ago. Now, we also can use these fossils to learn a little bit more about some of these animals too, just like paleontologists do. So let's go ahead, Efrain, and start to make our own fossil-inspired models to help us remember some of those key ideas of what makes a fossil, a fossil. So I'm going to pull out my paper and I'm going to work... I don't want to get any of my play material on the fossil, so I'm going to have a separate piece of paper to help keep them safe. And I'm going to work on my paper here. All right.
So, families at home, let's start by making a model that represents the remains of an animal, since that's what we just looked at. So, that way we can remember that fossilized animal remains help us to know what animals from the past would've looked like. So I'm going to use some air dry clay actually to make mine. You can draw examples of fossils if you don't have any clay or dough. And I'm going to make for mine, I think, Efrain, I'm going to make an example since we saw two really beautiful ammonites, I'm going to make an example, sorry, of an ammonite shell. So I'm going to use my clay here. Since I remember that spiral-like shape it had, I'm going to use some rolling here to kind of roll it out. And families at home, I hope that you're all making different examples of fossil models to show ancient life, so maybe some family members are making ammonite shells, maybe someone's making a trilobite, maybe someone's making a tooth.
Efrain Tejada:
So, Katie, is your ammonite going to be the size of the smaller one or the larger one?
Katie Derloshon:
This one's going to probably be more close to the size of the smaller one. And I'm just kind of rolling it up here. Bloop! And then I have a little pencil, I'm not going to draw on it, but I'm going to use my pencil to make some pokey marks, so I can remember... I can't draw exactly that puzzley-like shape, but this can help me to remember that there was that pattern on the ammonite shells that made it strong and sturdy. Bloop! Add some more detail.
And I think, Efrain, that megalodon tooth was pretty sweet, so I'm going to also make a tooth example. Let's see if I can mold this clay to be a tooth. So I'm going to have it kind of pointy. Then I'm going to pinch it down. Ooh, Efrain just pulled out the megalodon tooth, so I could have a inspiration here. I'm going to kind of pinch it a little bit, and... Ooh, okay. And, Efrain, I remember you talking about the serration on the side, so I'm going to take my pencil again and kind of pokey it, whoops-a-daisy. Poke it on the side. Bloop, bloop, bloop. Cool. Wow.
Efrain Tejada:
These are some awesome models, Katie.
Katie Derloshon:
Thank you. All right, now, families at home, be sure to take a little bit of time, though, to write, maybe write something about how fossils help us to know about animals, what they would've looked like in the past, or even write down what you made. So for mine, I'm going to write a sentence at the top. I'm going to write, "Fossils are the remains or traces" I guess that could be "and" or "or", right? "of ancient life." And families, we're going to keep adding to our fossil model collection on our paper here. So if you don't have the time to write this sentence or your notes now, you can always come back. So I'm going to put "Shark tooth" and "ammonite". Cool, excellent. And families at home, you can keep working on your fossil models, but we are going to revisit our definition one more time.
So remember, fossils are the remains or traces of ancient life, and they help us to learn what life would've looked like, like with these, or maybe even what life would've acted like a long time ago. And we just identified a bunch of examples from the specimens that Efrain has brought out, that were all evidence of how ancient animal life would've looked like. But someone in our Q&A, one of the family members, was talking about plant life, Efrain. And nobody talked about plant life yet. Or we haven't talked about plant life yet.
Efrain Tejada:
You're right. And there is an example of a plant fossil in the mix. Let's see if our families at home can spot it.
Katie Derloshon:
Ooh, okay. So Efrain's brought back out the specimens, and he says that there is a plant fossil in here, so families take a close look, and let's see if we can find that plant fossil. I'm going to launch a poll, and you can pick which one you think might be a plant fossil. All right, answers are coming in, Efrain. Oh, these ones are actually coming in really fast, right?
Efrain Tejada:
Yes. This...
Katie Derloshon:
Our families have definitely been practicing observation, whoops, by looking at all these fossils.
Efrain Tejada:
They have been paying a lot of attention [crosstalk 00:29:16].
Katie Derloshon:
[crosstalk 00:29:16]. This is great. Okay. So we're going to close our poll here in 3, 2, 1.
Efrain Tejada:
2, 1.
Katie Derloshon:
All right, Efrain. A lot of families are saying that they think maybe example number one was a fossil of a plant, or a plant fossil. And I agree, it kind of does look like a leaf. So, I'm going to move my craft here, and can we take a close look at that? Is that a leaf? Is that a plant fossil?
Efrain Tejada:
So those are great, great observations. Yes. This is the example of the plant fossil. Oops. So, our scientists aren't sure exactly what plant this leaf is from, but we do know it's a type of plant called an angiosperm, or a flowering plant, based on the patterns we can see in the leaves and comparing it to modern leaves that are now surrounding us. Many fossils of leaves are called compression fossils, because the leaves are compressed, and squeezed, and pressed between layers of rocks and other matter in earth. As you can see here, these type of fossils clearly show what the leaves of ancient plants look like. And sometimes, some of the original leaf material is left behind. The brown color here in the leaves and the veins is some of the actual leaf material. Even after 50 million years, Katie! But sometimes, scientists come across really, really cool surprises. So this one has an added surprise to it, Katie, it's not only enough that it's a 50-million-year-old fossil plant.
Katie Derloshon:
What else does it have?
Efrain Tejada:
But there is also evidence of insect behavior. It has been partially eaten.
Katie Derloshon:
What?
Efrain Tejada:
Yes. Do you see the cut-out sections on the leaves?
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah. It looks like there's a little bit on that bottom right, right there, yeah. Right where you're pointing.
Efrain Tejada:
So these are traces left behind by an animal, an insect. It showed that not only life was around at that time because the plant was alive, but also something decided to take a bite out of it too.
Katie Derloshon:
Yum! Cool. That's really neat.
Efrain Tejada:
And here's another example of a plant fossil. This is a fern blade. This fossil was formed similarly to the leaf we just looked at, it was preserved and squeezed between many, many layers of rock and different materials. This is a seed fern, and it is from the Carboniferous Period, or from about 300 million years ago.
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa.
Efrain Tejada:
This time period was before the time of the dinosaurs, and was known for having large swampy forest, with many different types of ferns thriving in that environment. Check out the details that we can see on this fossil. You can see each individual pinna on this fern blade, and even the vein down each one individual pinna.
Katie Derloshon:
Are these the pinnaes?
Efrain Tejada:
Right there.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
Thank you, Katie. I was pointing out too low. So, you can see that each vein is right there, kept. So the scientists can learn a lot about the structure of the plant. Plant fossils like these can help paleontologists study plants, or paleobotanists learn about plants from a long time ago and compare them with plants of today, that are alive today. They also help paint a more complete picture of what ancient life looked like in our planet throughout time.
Katie Derloshon:
That is so cool. Wow! So, not only can fossils teach us about ancient animal life, but they can also teach us about ancient plant life, too. And together, plant and animal fossils help paleontologists get a more complete picture of what life was like on our planet throughout its long history. Now, families at home, I don't have any leaves or leaf-like things around me here in the museum, besides these fossils, I guess, but maybe after the program, I can go find a leaf outside and I can make my own leaf imprint fossil, or my own leaf-print fossil example.
Efrain Tejada:
I will be doing the same thing, Katie, with some of the plants that I have at home.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, Efrain has a lot of plants at home, at his house, so I'm sure you can make some really cool ones. But let's go ahead and jump into our craft again, to make a plant fossil example, so that we remember that plants also could have fossilized and that they help tell the picture, or tell the story of the history of our planet's life. So I'm going to grab a little bit of clay here and I'm going to smoosh it down. And I think, Efrain, I'm going to use my pencil again, but I'm not going to write on the clay, I'm just going to use it to poke around and draw, maybe, the shape of a leaf. And I really think it's cool that the leaf you shared with us had that little bite of leaf bitten out, so I'm going to, in my leaf example, I'm going to...
Efrain Tejada:
Is your leaf going to have a bite as well?
Katie Derloshon:
It is definitely going to have a bite as well.
Efrain Tejada:
That is great.
Katie Derloshon:
An insect enjoyed a meal on this leaf. All right. Boop, boop. So there's, see right here? It's cut out, right there.
Efrain Tejada:
There you go.
Katie Derloshon:
An insect had a nibble there. I got some veins. Maybe a little bit of evidence of stem, also, might have been preserved on this one. Cool. So, I'm going to bring it a little closer, because it's kind of hard to see what I did, but here's what I did. Kind of just drew it out, put my veins in there. I left a chunk out of it to remind myself that even evidence like an insect bite might have been left. I'm going to write, "Leaf fossil". And families at home, you can write notes as well, as to what you're crafting, so that you remember what it is that you created together today, to remind yourself of what fossils could have been like. Excellent. Okay.
So, Efrain, we looked at fossils that help us to know what plant and animal life might have been looking like a long, long time ago, and actually some behavior because we talked about, well, we had this leaf that had the insect bite out of it, and the megalodon tooth, when we talked about how we knew it could have eaten meat because of the shape and the features that it had. But what else could we learn about ancient life, like how it would've acted, or how it would've behaved?
Efrain Tejada:
That is a great question, Katie. So, scientists use all types of information when studying fossils to be able to really understand what is happening there. So more than just eating behavior can be determined from fossils. Sometimes, evidence of movement can be fossilized, too. This can be in the form of tracks on the ground, sometimes tracks or footprints of animals like dinosaurs would have been made on the ground and then would have been covered by sediment, like mud, and then fossilized. Since tracks or footprints do not preserve a body part of an animal, these are called trace fossils. They show the trace of ancient life, which can then give ideas on how the animals might have behaved or moved.
Katie Derloshon:
Cool. Okay, so, Efrain, let's go back to our specimens that we have left, to see if there's any examples of fossils that might show evidence of a behavior, maybe like movement. So families, take a close look again at the specimens, and I'm going to launch a poll here, and let us know if you think any of these might be examples of fossils that show the trace of an animal, like movement or some other behavior. Ooh!
Efrain Tejada:
All right, families are answering very quickly.
Katie Derloshon:
Yes they are! And a lot of... Okay, so I will say, families at home, that both of these actually have choices that have been chosen, but we do have a clear choice amongst the families, Efrain. The majority of families are saying, I'm going to close this poll here. 3, 2, 1. Majority of families, Efrain, are saying that number five is an example of a fossil that might show behavior, maybe like movement. You know, when I take a closer look at it, it kind of does. It kind of looks like a track or something in mud. So, when we...
Efrain Tejada:
Like a tire track?
Katie Derloshon:
Like a tire track, or something. Is that what this is?
Efrain Tejada:
300-million-year-old tire track.
Katie Derloshon:
No, it's not. I don't know.
Efrain Tejada:
That's not possible.
Katie Derloshon:
That's what it looks like! But what is it?
Efrain Tejada:
So, families, great observations again. Yes. This is a fossil replica that shows how an animal would have moved. Remember that ancient marine arthropod called trilobite that we looked at earlier?
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
This is a trace fossil of a trilobite, and it shows its tracks along the ground. The tracks were from a trilobite moving around the ocean floor about 500 million years ago.
Katie Derloshon:
500 million years ago?
Efrain Tejada:
I know! It is so long ago. And even though the trilobite is long gone, its tracks were fossilized, showing how it'd move along the ocean floor. Movement is one behavior paleontologists try to learn about when studying ancient life. Movement might have been important for the animal to find food, find a mate, or even to find shelter and protection. Trace fossils of an animal tracks, like this one, give clues to paleontologists as how the animal would have used its body part for movement. This trilobite used its appendages, or leg-like structures, to help it crawl around the bottom of the ocean floor.
Katie Derloshon:
Wow. Now, Efrain, can we look at that trilobite fossil one more time, because like the ammonite, it looks like trilobites might have came in different sizes too, because this trilobite looks way smaller, or would've made smaller tracks, maybe, than this one. Is that true, did trilobites come in different sizes?
Efrain Tejada:
Great observation. Absolutely. There was a huge diversity of trilobites in shapes and sizes, and you can see here that if you actually compare the trilobite and put it on top of these tracks, you can see that this was a completely different species of animal.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, but they're still a trilobite, but just a different kind and different size.
Efrain Tejada:
Correct.
Katie Derloshon:
Wow. So cool. I wonder where the trilobite was heading when it made its track? Maybe it was off to find some food? All right...
Efrain Tejada:
Just like the insect that took a little bite out of the leaf.
Katie Derloshon:
Yep. Now, besides movement though, Efrain, what other evidence of behaviors can be preserved?
Efrain Tejada:
Great question. So, like the trilobite tracks, this isn't the fossil from the body of a living thing. But it does tells us how that thing behaved. Okay, let's take a look at this. Do you see the hole right here?
Katie Derloshon:
Yep.
Efrain Tejada:
This is evidence of another behavior; burrowing. This is a fossilized crab burrow. The crab created a burrow, maybe for shelter, and that burrow fossilized. The animal is long gone, but the actual behavior actually was preserved, and scientists can learn a lot about this animal from this.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah. So this fossil shows that life was there before, because it left behind this trace. That's so cool. Even if the crab wasn't fossilized, its burrow was. Neat.
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly. Footprints and burrows are just two examples of things that are left behind by animals to show where they once were.
Katie Derloshon:
Okay. Speaking of left behind, and things that are left behind, Efrain, can we take a look at our slide again with all the specimens on there? Because I think there's still one left over that we didn't talk about at all.
Efrain Tejada:
You are correct.
Katie Derloshon:
And when I look at that, Efrain, it does not appear to me to fit either of those two parts of the definition, at least at first glance, it doesn't look like a fossilized body part, or show behavior, I don't think. To me, it honestly just looks like a rock, or a clump of dried mud. So Efrain, I'm wondering if this is actually a specimen from the collection or if you're just putting it here to trick us. But before you share that, families at home, tell me what you think. Do you think that this is a fossil and if you do, what might it be a fossil of? Is it a body feature? Is it a behavior? Okay, Efrain, right away, two people, [Nemo 00:42:29] and Sydney, and okay, seriously. We have three people now saying that this is poop! Oh, a fourth person.
Efrain Tejada:
Wow!
Katie Derloshon:
Okay. Efrain, what is this? Is that poop? If it is, is it okay to be touching it?
Efrain Tejada:
Great, great questions. And this is one of my favorite specimens. And families at home, you are correct. This is poop!
Katie Derloshon:
What?
Efrain Tejada:
It is dino-poop. So, this is another type of fossil that shows evidence of animal behavior. This is actually a type of fossil called a coprolite. And families at home, if you haven't heard about coprolite, coprolites is fossilized poop. This coprolite is from an animal that lived during the Cretaceous Period. The Cretaceous Period was from about 145 to 66 million years ago, and at this time when the dinosaurs were still alive. So coprolites are definitely evidence that something was alive, ate, and then it pooped it out. So, paleontologists can learn a lot from the ancient life from their poop. They can learn about the animal's diet, the animal's environment, where the animal would have been found, and what the surrounding area was like, based on what they can actually study and find in fossilized poop.
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa! That is so interesting. First of all, that poop can fossilize, and then second that we can learn stuff from it. And Efrain, you're right, poop would definitely be evidence that an animal had eaten and been alive at one time, because it would've had to then poop. Since both the coprolites and the trilobite tracks that we talked about just before, showed behavior, one showed behavior of movement and the other one showed behavior of eating and pooping, these both, again, are examples of trace fossils. They show evidence of what life was at a moment in time, because they then left that trace behind, and then that trace fossilized. Okay, Efrain, I think it's time to make an example of a trace fossil, a fossil that shows evidence of behavior. And Efrain I'm actually going to make two examples, I'm going to make a track example inspired by the trilobites, and then I'm also going to make, whoop, sorry, a coprolite example, because I am definitely not going to forget the fact that poop can fossilize.
Efrain Tejada:
And I am actually quite amazed on how much our families at home know.
Katie Derloshon:
Yes, me too.
Efrain Tejada:
I am impressed.
Katie Derloshon:
All right. So I'm going to actually move this into a little bit lower. I'm going to smoosh this out, bloop, to make my track. I'm going to do it inspired by the trilobite track. I'm going to just go whoop, and whoop, and then make some movement lines. This, again, are animal tracks, and then Efrain, definitely, I'm going to make a coprolite.
Efrain Tejada:
Oh, you're going to make a replica of my favorite specimen.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah. And I'm going to just have a lump here of clay. And...
Efrain Tejada:
Well, so if you look at it closer, Katie, you can see you some little details on the coprolite, so you can just add some little bits and pieces.
Katie Derloshon:
So, is that maybe how we would even know if it was poop or not? How will we know it's poop, and not a rock? Is it by those clues or the other stuff that's left behind, the traces of other things that will be found in the poop, to know it is poop and not just a rock?
Efrain Tejada:
So, in order to be able to identify something as coprolite, or poop, scientists have studied for many, many years, and they have to use collections, like the ones that we have here at the museum, to compare it to other specimens. And at that point, they're able to learn a lot about how this specimen looks like. I am not a paleobotanist, or a paleontologist, to be able to fully understand what is everything that is in this coprolite.
Katie Derloshon:
What is in the coprolite? But the fact that it has stuff in it tells the scientists that it is poop, because we had talked about how you could learn about what the animal ate based on the poop.
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly.
Katie Derloshon:
That is...
Efrain Tejada:
And I'm sure they could actually look at sizes and different shapes as well.
Katie Derloshon:
Efrain, before we continue on, someone is asking in the Q&A about your ring. They're wondering if your ring is also a fossil.
Efrain Tejada:
Well, that is a great question. So this is amber, and it does have a mosquito trapped inside.
Katie Derloshon:
Whoa!
Efrain Tejada:
So, if you can see it, it's actually floating right there.
Katie Derloshon:
That is so cool!
Efrain Tejada:
So, this is a cool piece that I got on one of the trips that I took.
Katie Derloshon:
That is so neat. So, not only could animal remains have been preserved in rocks, like we're seeing here, but animals could have also been preserved, or ancient life could have been preserved, in amber as well.
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly. And it helps the animal that gets trapped be preserved fully, and scientists get the opportunity to study it.
Katie Derloshon:
That is so cool. Thanks for wearing that today.
Efrain Tejada:
Thank you.
Katie Derloshon:
Bonus specimen there.
Efrain Tejada:
A bonus specimen.
Katie Derloshon:
Okay. And families, again, you can continue working on your crafts and your fossil models, we're hoping that all of your family members are enjoying making some of these creations. But I want to start thinking about some of those fossils that we looked at again. So let's go ahead and look at all of them. Yeah, there they are. So, Efrain, all of these, even though they look so different, they were all examples of fossils, and they all showed either examples of remains of ancient life, like showing what animals might have looked like, or they were traces of ancient life. So in the end, these were all examples of fossils that you've brought out.
Efrain Tejada:
Exactly. And each one of these fossils helps to tell a piece of our planet's history. We looked at quite a lot of fossil examples today from different animals and plants, but they were from different times in history, too. You remember, our planet is about four-and-a-half billion years old. There has been a lot, a lot of time for different species to evolve, and change, and to be preserved. Looking at this timeline here, you can see that we were able to time-hop around the geological timescale of Earth. Each fossil shows a snapshot of an example of life from that time period.
Katie Derloshon:
Wow! Okay, so our planet has been home to a wide range of animals and plants, and seeing the collection you brought out here really shows the diversity of life that has been on Earth. I mean, look, Efrain, we have that example of the trilobite tracks from 500 million years ago! That is so incredible! And even the youngest one, the megalodon tooth, is still pretty old, it's still a few million years old. That is incredible. And here, I guess, we are, all the way down at the end of the geological timescale, where it says "Present day". We are very far removed, time-wise, from actually any of these plants or animals.
Efrain Tejada:
You're correct. And these are just a few examples of fossils that we have here in Q?rius. And families, soon this area will be open again for you to explore once again. You can even find some of the fossils we just talked about, and actually get to touch them.
Katie Derloshon:
What? That is right, Efrain. And we're able to make some really close observations of fossils from that Q?rius collection, like Efrain had just said, to help us understand how fossils can show us what life looked like, and how life behaved from millions of years ago. We were also able to make our own fossil-inspired models, or drawings, to help us remember and even share that information now with others, too. So yeah, Efrain, I'm super excited because you had also mentioned that we are going to be opening soon, right? So we're going to transition into having more spaces of the museum open, including where we are now, inside Q?rius. So, we're excited to share that with you. We will be having on-site programming again at the museum too. So we're excited to see you all again at the museum, where we can help you continue our learning together in person.
Efrain Tejada:
Yes. But that also means, as we're transitioning to more on-site programming, our virtual options will be changing as well. We hope we'll still be able to bring families virtual options in the future, so please stay tuned and check our website.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, and after our virtual program today, we will be having our survey as always, so please take a few minutes to complete it by using the link that will be in the browser after the end of the webinar. We're super excited to hear your feedback as we continue to develop our programming, that's meaningful to you and your family, whether it's virtual or in person. But personally speaking, I have so enjoyed our Saturday mornings together the last two years. So, from our first Natural History at Home program where we all made cameras together, to all of our drawing programs too, and all of our special guests and our special experts, and even some of us were dancing together with that music made by space data.
So, while the last two years have been really difficult for all of us, coming together every month to learn about and explore natural history together ... Woo, I'm afraid I'm going to get a little emotional, definitely was something that I looked forward to every single month. So, thank you for inviting us into your home every month, and we look forward to seeing you on site in the near future. So please, like Efrain said, keep an eye out too for virtual offerings, so please take a look at our website to keep up to date. So thank you again, Efrain, for joining us today, on Natural History at Home. I am so excited for families to come in and see some of these fossils that you brought out here to share with us all today.
Efrain Tejada:
Well, thank you. I mean, you're welcome, and thank you for having me. Thanks for having me, and families, don't forget, we would love to see what you and your family are making together today. If you would like to share, please email us at our Family Programs email. If you'd like them to be potentially shared with other families in future programs, please also sign and return the release that will be emailed to you after the program.
Katie Derloshon:
Excellent. Okay. Efrain, we have time, I think, for one... Well, we have time for two questions. So one that was pulled from our Q&A, Sydney was asking, "How do we know a fossil is inside of a rock? So do you just break it open?" And Joe, our paleontologist that's helping us in the back, and said, that's exactly right! Especially for plant fossils. So when you're looking for plant fossils, most rocks will split or break open where the leaf fossil is located, because the rock is kind of weak there. So scientists will look for the right age and environment that they think the fossils will be located, and then they just start breaking rocks open looking for stuff. That is so cool! Thank you for asking that question, Sydney.
Efrain Tejada:
Ooh, and Katie, let me mention something. Remember how we talked about some of the fossils are cast versus the real [crosstalk 00:54:15]?
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
This is an example of why some of those specimens had to be replicas. If you can look at this, you can see this specimen is a little bit...
Katie Derloshon:
It's a little wobbly.
Efrain Tejada:
... wobbly.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
So this is the instance in why the cast are so important, because specimens like this, or some that are even more fragile, will have to be transported to other areas, either in the museum or other countries for other paleontologists to study them. So, high-quality replicas are very, very useful in instances like this.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, you're right. Thanks for sharing that, and that's an excellent example as to how important replicas can be. Because yeah, woo. Be very careful!
Efrain Tejada:
Yeah. Sorry.
Katie Derloshon:
You're OK. You're fine. But we have one more question, Efrain. Someone is wanting to know, "Do you have a favorite fossil?"
Efrain Tejada:
So, yes. My favorite fossils are ceratopsians, like the one that we saw at the very beginning.
Katie Derloshon:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Efrain Tejada:
But also, I really like coprolites. You can learn so much from this fossil.
Katie Derloshon:
From poop?
Efrain Tejada:
From poop.
Katie Derloshon:
From poop.
Efrain Tejada:
Ancient poop is amazing.
Katie Derloshon:
I will tell you, I also love ancient poop, I think it's so cool. But I think in our museum, my favorite fossil is in our Deep Time exhibit, it's this ammonite, so kind of like this, but it has these hole markings in it. And that shows evidence that an animal, a Tylosaurus, was the inspiration, actually, for the stop motion, that it would've bitten into the shell. So the bite marks have been preserved in the shell's fossil, super cool. All right. Oh, and Debbie is saying that we have such cool t-shirts. Thank you.
Efrain Tejada:
Well, thanks [inaudible 00:56:01].
Katie Derloshon:
Try and have fun, you know? Have a show about fossils, I'm going to at least have some fossil shirt on, so yeah. My favorite fossil shirt, all the shark teeth. All right. Well thank you again, families, for joining us today. Thank you, Mara, for joining us as well, and all of our support on the back end, and to all of you, families. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and we hope to see you here soon at the museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Bye.
Efrain Tejada:
Bye, goodbye. Thank you.
