Paleontology, Jan 11th (7th period)

[dr-tommy.livejournal.com]

"Afternoon everyone!" Tommy smiles cheerfully at his students. "Please sign in, and then we'll get started."

"First, a little administrative note. On Wednesdays, you'll get a homework assignment, which I'd like you to bring to class on Monday. Depending on the kind of assignment, I may ask you to get up in front of the class and do a short presentation."

"So I'm sure you all have at least a vague idea of what paleontology is: the study of ancient plants and animals by looking at things called fossils. Paleontology can be divided into three major subdivisions: paleozoology (animals), paleobotany (plants), and micropaleontology (microfossils). Paleozoologists may specialize in invertebrate paleontology, which deals with animals without backbones, or in vertebrate paleontology, dealing with fossils of animals with backbones, including fossil hominids (paleoanthropology). I know, I know, that’s a lot of –ologies, so in this class we'll be focusing just on vertebrate paleontology."

"So, today's question for you is: what's a fossil? What makes a fossil?"

(ooc: threads up!)

Comments

Re: Discussion!

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly thinks for a moment. "Are the dried footprints in mud considered fossils?"

Re: Discussion!

[dr-tommy.livejournal.com]

"Yep! A fossil is any sort of mineralized trace of a living thing's existence. So bones, footprints, bits of eggshells, these are all different kinds of fossils that can be found."