Paleontology

By: Andie Almond

Picture by Mike Kentuckiana

What is paleontology?
Paleontology is the scientific
study of animal and plant fossils. It
helps us learn about evolution and
the past. There are many branches
of more specific studies in
paleontology. Some examples are
paleoecology, paleobotany, and
micropaleontology. Paleontology is
very important because we can
learn about plants and animals that
lived before us, and the evolution of
them.

Dinosauromorphs had previously been

thought to of as "pre-dinosaurs" (Smith).
Scientists thought that dinosauromorphs
had gone extinct as the first dinosaurs
appeared.

Photo by
planete.gaia.free.fr

The picture above is of dromomeron

romeri, a dinosauromorph that was a
close cousin of the dinosaurs.
Dinosauromorph fossils have been
found alongside dinosaur fossils,
proving that they lived at the same
place and time (Smith).

Paleontologists found fossils of the

missing creature in the whale
evolution. These fossils of
Ambulocetus helped scientists figure
out how whales evolved. The fossils
helped show when and how whales
developed the ability to live in water,
since their ancestors had legs (Brown).

Photo by Jody Neilson

By studying ridges on the

bones, scientists could tell where
muscles used to be, which
showed how the animal once
moved (Brown).