Paleontologists study fossils found in rocks to learn about prehistoric plants and animals. Fossils form when organisms are buried and the impressions of their bones or traces are preserved in the sediment that hardens into rock. By examining fossils, paleontologists have discovered that dinosaurs came in many different shapes and sizes, and filled different ecological roles. However, their views of certain dinosaurs have changed as new fossils provided additional evidence, such as determining that an oviraptor was likely protecting its eggs rather than eating others' eggs as originally believed. Fossils provide clues about extinct species and environments long ago.

1. Earth Science
by Jennifer Reynolds
Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content
Nonfiction Retell • captions Fossils and
• Labels Dinosaurs
• Glossary
Scott Foresman Science 2.7
ISBN 0-328-13787-1
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2. Vocabulary What Fossils learn? Dinosaurs
did you and
dinosaur 1. What can paleontologists learn from fossils?
fossil by extinct mean?
2. What doesJennifer Reynolds
extinct 3. Paleontologists changed
their minds about Oviraptors when they
paleontologist
found new fossils. Write to explain what they
thought at different times. Use words from the
book as you write.
4. Retell In your own words tell about how
the lizard fossil on page 4 was formed.
Illustrations: 4, 5, 14 Big Sesh Studios
Photographs: Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for
photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its
attention in subsequent editions. Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott
Foresman, a division of Pearson Education. Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom
(B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd)
Opener: Big Sesh Studios; Title Page: ©DK Images; 2 ©Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis; 3 (TL) ©Scott W.
Smith/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes, (BR) Colin Keates, Courtesy of the Natural History Museum,
London/©DK Images; 6 Natural History Museum/©DK Images; 7 Natural History Museum /©DK Images;
8 (CC, B) ©DK Images; 9 (TR, B) ©DK Images; 10 ©DK Images; 11 Giuliano Fornari/©DK Images;
12 ©Francois Gohler/Photo Researchers, Inc.; 13 ©The Natural History Museum, London
ISBN: 0-328-13787-1
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, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For
information regarding permissions, write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman,
1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V010 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05

3. How can we learn A fossil is a print of a plant or animal from
about the past? long ago.
Fossils can be footprints.
Rocks can tell stories about the past. Fossils can be parts of plants or animals.
Scientists called paleontologists look Some fossils are old bones.
at rocks.
They use them to tell what plants and
animals were like long ago.
These rocks may be fossils. Fossil of an animal
footprint in the mud
A paleontologist at work
Fossil of
a leaf in
the mud
2 3

4. How Fossils Form Many years went by.
This is a lizard fossil. The sand and mud turned into rock.
The lizard lived long ago. The print of the lizard got left in the rock.
The lizard died. Now it is a fossil.
It got covered with sand and mud.
4 5

5. What can we learn Sometimes plants and animals stop getting
what they need.
from fossils?
Plants and animals die when this happens.
Fossils tell about plants and animals Plants and animals may become extinct
of the past. when habitats change.
Some plants and animals do not live on
Earth anymore.
They are extinct.
Fossils can tell about extinct plants
and animals.
This Archaeopteryx
is now extinct.
Archaeopteryx
fossil
6 7

6. What were dinosaurs like? Some dinosaurs were big.
Some dinosaurs were small.
Dinosaurs were animals that lived Some dinosaurs ate plants.
a long time ago. Some dinosaurs ate other animals.
Now dinosaurs are extinct.
They do not live on Earth anymore.
This dinosaur was the
size of a chicken.
Barosaurus
was very tall.
This dinosaur
ate other
dinosaurs.
8 9

7. Learning about Dinosaurs Fossils show that a Stegosaurus had
Some dinosaur bones have turned a large body.
into fossils. It had a small head and a small mouth.
Paleontologists look at these fossils. Paleontologists think this dinosaur ate plants.
These fossils give clues about what dinosaurs
looked like.
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus skeleton
10 11

8. What are some new Then palentologists found another
Oviraptor fossil.
discoveries?
This Oviraptor fossil was sitting on the eggs.
Paleontologists found these fossils of eggs. Now paleontologists think the eggs were the
They also found a fossil of an Oviraptor near Oviraptor’s own eggs.
the eggs. They think the Oviraptor was keeping its
They thought the Oviraptor took the eggs to eggs safe.
eat them.
Egg fossils
Eggs
Oviraptor
12 13

9. Paleontologists learn different things from Fossils can give us some clues about these
different fossils. plants and animals.
Paleontologists ask questions about life on What questions do you have about life on
Earth long ago. Earth long ago?
14 15

10. Glossary
Vocabulary What did you learn?
dinosaur
dinosaur animals that lived on Earth 1. What can paleontologists learn from fossils?
fossil long ago 2. What does extinct mean?
extinct
extinct no longer living on Earth 3. Paleontologists changed
their minds about Oviraptors when they
paleontologist
fossil a print or part of a plant or found new fossils. Write to explain what they
animal from long ago thought at different times. Use words from the
book as you write.
paleontologist a scientist who studies fossils
4. Retell In your own words tell about how
the lizard fossil on page 4 was formed.
Illustrations: 4, 5, 14 Big Sesh Studios
Photographs: Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for
photographic material. The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its
attention in subsequent editions. Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the property of Scott
Foresman, a division of Pearson Education. Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom
(B), Left (L), Right (R) Background (Bkgd)
Opener: Big Sesh Studios; Title Page: ©DK Images; 2 ©Richard T. Nowitz/Corbis; 3 (TL) ©Scott W.
Smith/Animals Animals/Earth Scenes, (BR) Colin Keates, Courtesy of the Natural History Museum,
London/©DK Images; 6 Natural History Museum/©DK Images; 7 Natural History Museum /©DK Images;
8 (CC, B) ©DK Images; 9 (TR, B) ©DK Images; 10 ©DK Images; 11 Giuliano Fornari/©DK Images;
12 ©Francois Gohler/Photo Researchers, Inc.; 13 ©The Natural History Museum, London
ISBN: 0-328-13787-1
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, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For
information regarding permissions, write to: Permissions Department, Scott Foresman,
1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025.
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V010 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
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