What is the difference between fossils and bones

After millions of years, some natural process, like the gradual shifting of the planet's surface, can reveal these layers of rock and the fossils they contain. Sedimentary rock can also hold trace fossils , which record an organism's behavior. Some of the most well-known trace fossils are trackways , or the tracks of extinct animals. These form when an animal leaves its prints in soft but sturdy soil, which creates a mold. This mold fills with sediment, and both the mold and its filling harden over millions of years.

Forces like erosion remove the upper layers of rock, revealing the preserved footprints underneath. Sediment can also fill the mold and harden into a cast , or a reproduction of the foot that made the print. This can happen with other traces, too, like burrows and tunnels. Some other trace fossils include coprolites fossilized dung tooth marks on bones or wood, and nests. Sediment can even preserve plant life. Plants can make impressions in hardening sediment or become petrified wood after going through much the same process as fossilized dinosaur bones do.

Bones together form a major part of the vertebral skeleton that helps give the body a structure. Bones serve a variety of functions, including helping the body stay up, move and function the way that it does. Bones also act as a surface for the muscles and tendons to attach. Bones also contain bone marrow where red blood cells and while blood cells are produced. In addition, bones also act to protect the organs such as heart, brain, lungs, and many more.

At the time of birth, a human is born with over different bones. However, over the stages of development, many of these bones fuse together leaving a human adult with a total of bones.

A fossil, on the other hand, is the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. A rock or concretion, like the one I showed to my professor, will be solid, and the inside of the rock will look like the outside. Fossil bone, on the other hand, will probably preserve the internal bone structure. In a fossil bone you will be able to see the different canals and webbed structure of the bone, sure signs that the object was of biological origin.

You can even try a tongue test. The porous nature of some fossil bones will cause it to slightly stick to your tongue if you lick it, though you might want to have a glass of water handy if you feel compelled to try this. By following these guidelines it becomes easier to determine whether or not you have really found a fossil bone.

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