REX'S EMAIL about FOSSILS |
In a message dated 29/6/98 08:37:47, you wrote: <<My name is Courtney and I am almost 6 years old. (My birthday is in two weeks) My mom is helping me type this because I can't spell to good or type fast. My question is: My grandpa got a fosill fish for me last year at the fair. It is really neat. I was wondering though...it looks like it is in a tile or something like that. it is in a white square that is really smooth. Shouldn't it be in a rock or something? The paper says it is Species: Knightia Eocene: 44-50 million years Kemmerer, Wyoming. what does all that mean? I want to start collecting fosills like Beanies, I hope my grandpa will get me another one at the fair this year. Say hi to the gang for me, especially Chip, Chip looks just like my cat K.C. Love, Courtney Newbury Park, CA>>
Hello Courtney,
Happy belated birthday!
Your fossil fish is really kewl!! What you call a "tile" is actually the fine grained rock the fish was fossilized in. It is usually a light brownish color, and is hardened very fine sand. The fossil hunters who found it cut the rock to a certain size to show the fish better. Some I have seen are a couple feet across and have many fish fossils in them.
Chip sends you his birthday greeting also.
REX
In a message dated 27/5/98 06:55:57, you wrote:<<Rex, I found a real cool fossil of a tooth in my mom's rock garden awhile back. My mom and I took it to our local extension office to see if they knew what it was. They gave it back to us and said it was an ancient tooth of a Bemonite or a Pachyteuthis (very old squid). I haven't been able to find any good info on these that I can use to write a report on it. Can you help? Thank You! Becky Age 9 Iowa>>
Hello Becky,
What you found was a Belemnite, the sort of "bone" inside of an animal related to the squid and octopus. They lived during the Cretaceous Period. It probably looks like a straight tusk. You can check its age by going to my friend, Sonny's, Geological Time Scale.
Try doing a net search for Pacyteuthis or Belemnite to see what links you come up with.
Looks like you found a neat fossil! I wonder where the rocks in the garden came from? If you knew, you could go there and probably find loads more fossils.
REX
In a message dated 6/5/98 20:58:20, you wrote: <<Hi rex, my name is Cody I am 8 years old I live in New Mexico. I gotta qestion and I know you could only anser it for me becuse you are so smart. My mom took me to see the movie titanic did you see it to? well, I relly lked it alot and my mom got me some books about the reel titanic boat. She also got me a reel peace of coal from the titanic boat that the people braut up from the big alantic ocen. There is even a ceertificate of authenticity in hte box. It is relly neat. My qestion is what is coal? What is is made of. Why does it burn for a long time for? My mom told me that after a long time a dimond is an old peace of coal, but relly? My mom is smart some time to. Thank you for being my good frend I like you. I am sick today with cold and alergys. Cody M in New mexico. I almos done with secend grade.
Hello Cody,
WOW, an actual piece of coal from the Titanic! That is kewl!! All the Beanies said they were sorry to hear that you have a cold.
If you go to a coal mine you can usually find loads of plant fossils. Coal is actually the remains of plants that lived in lush forests many millions of years ago. As the ferns, bushes and trees grew and died, their leaves, stems and trunks eventually piled up on the ground forming many hundreds of feet of plant stuff. These were buried deep in the ground and the pressure squeezed out any liquids causing the plants to squish together and eventually become harder. What was left was carbon and some other substances. Carbon burns easily and that is why coal can be used as a "fossil fuel".
We can even find different types of "coal". If the plant remains were not buried too deeply and didn't get all squished, you can have PEAT.
LIGNITE or soft coal is brownish, a bit "harder" than peat and still sort of looks like wood. It doesn't burn as long as the next two types.
Then comes SOFT COAL, which is black, smokes a lot because it still has a lot of impurities, burns for a shorter time and leaves more ash and cinder.
HARD COAL or ANTHRACITE is very black and the longest burning coal because it is the most compact. It produces less smoke to pollute the atmosphere and leaves less material to shovel away after it burns.
Diamond is almost pure carbon, but has nothing to do with coal. This gem mineral come in all different colors, and each is due to some other element mixed in with the carbon atoms. Diamond is the hardest naturally occuring substance, with a hardness of 10 on the Moh's Scale. It is also much more expensive than coal AND it also burns!
REX
In a message dated 25/3/98 00:29:30, you wrote: << HI,REX!!! My name is Kaley, I live in Michigan, and I'm 12 years old. Last summer we found some petosky stones in the river. My Mom said that they are a type of fossil, and they are only found in Michigan. Is this true? What are they fossils of? Kaley >>
Hello Kaley,
WOW, then you can find piles of these fossil corals in northern Michigan! They are the official State Stone! Similar "stones" may be found in Ontario in Canada.
Your "Petoskey Stones" are actually fossils that were rounded and polished as they rolled along river and stream beds. They are usually a coral with the name of Prismatophyllum. The polished stones look sort of like a honeycomb. They are from the Devonian Period and are about 375 million years old.
You could do a kewl Science Fair project on the different kinds of fossils you find in your area. Look for books about your local fossil localities at a nearby museum of library. Or do a search on the Internet and you will probably find hundreds of references.
REX
In a message dated 13/3/98 23:58:16, you wrote: <<Hi Rex!!!! How are you? I REALLY would like to win this, I have never won a contest in my life! QUESTION: I love collecting shells and I want to collect fossils. I wanted to know a good beach in California that I could find shells. Also I want to know where you can find Fossils and what tools I need and how to examin them. Thanks for helping me with my question! I know you are probly busy with 1,000 kids emailing youu every day! I LOVE YOU REX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! >>
Hi,
That is easy-- Claude says that ANY beach is great for shell collecting, even large lakes and rivers.
Fossil collecting is sometimes a little more difficult unless the bones and shells and stuff are in something like sand or mud.
If they are in rock you need a "geologists' pick", which is similar to a hammer with a chisel on one end, to chip the fossils carefully out of the rocks. The easiest way is to get a chunk of rock with fossils in it and take it home to see if you can get the individual shells and things out.
If you check with a local science museum, they should have loads of books about shell and fossil collecting localities in your State. You can also write to the California Geological Survey and ask for a list of their publications on fossils. They are usually very inexpensive.
REX
In a message dated 6/3/98 06:08:53, you wrote: <<OK My name is Linda Thompson, and I am 12, and I live in Oregon, USA. HERE IS MY QUESTION: Dear Rex, I have a fossilizied sand dollar. My best friend let me keep it. It is about quarter sized. I was wondering, how come sand dollars come in different sizes? How did mine become fossilzied? How long did it take? How old do you think it is? Why and how do sand dollars have those perfect star shapes on them?? Sorry for so many questions.........I am SO curious!! Thanks Rex!>>
Hello Linda,
You have a very good friend!
Most things come in different sizes, even Beanies. If you measure 20 different Blizzards, for example, you will find that some are longer than others.
Many sea creatures become fossilized by being buried and having water that is rich in minerals seap through where the sand dollar, for example, is buried. Over millions of years the mineral can replace the original shell material with a harder mineral. That process is termed "permineralization". Sand dollars have been around for millions of years, so it is difficult to tell how old yours is. One that Sonny gave me is about 25 million years old.
Sand dollars are related to star fish, crinoids, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and sea biscuits, and they all have 5 rays or a star-shaped form somewhere on them. Most animals have what is called "bi-lateral symmetry", meaning that if you cut them in half, both sides look about the same. Only the Echinoderms, the group of animals which includes your sand dollar, has this star-shaped form.
REX
In a message dated 7/2/98 03:14:45, you wrote:<<Alice Hill For the signature if you want parent's here's my dads George Hill He's it's alright he lives Usa with me W.I Question: Science has figured out that there are all of these eras. My question is on the very first era. Scientist know what things were around and lived during this era by fossils. But the very first life was either a parisite or animal with no bones, cartledge, or stuff like that. So with out something to make them into a fossil how do they become a fossil and if not how do scientist know that they were around then? This is my question for you. I hope you can answer it so my mind won't be boggled and so I can undestand more about fossils and the begining of the earth.>>
Hello Alice,
I really don't need a signature, just your first name, like when you write to a friend at school. I really hate it when kids don't give me a name so I can say "hi" to them by name. Don't you like it when a friend says, "Hi, Alice" better than just "hello"? Maybe I am just old fashioned??
Well, Peace tells me that you seem to know a lot about fossils already.
Yes, you are right, the earliest life forms did not have bones or what scientists call "hard parts" to preserve as fossils. What they do find are impressions of jellyfish, and tracks made by unknown animal types. And recently I read that they discovered some bacteria in China-- WOW.
Every year a lot of new fossils are found that always gives us a better idea of what animals and plants lived at different times in the distant past. Maybe you yourself will discover some!
REX
In a message dated 27/1/98 07:55:41, you wrote: <<Dear Rex...I found this arrowhead in my backyard, and my dog found this rock that looks like a tool...can you please help me figure out how old they are? Or can you tell me anything about arrowheads and who used them and why? Thank you. Jamie, 9 yrs old, and Min-Pin Pal, Czarny Budinski >>
Hi Jamie,
I checked out the pics of your discoveries on your web page and YES, your dog was the proverbial "lucky dog"! Sonny's dog only chases rabbits and squirrels when he is outside!
The arrowhead looks just like an arrowhead should. There are many different styles, depending on the "flutes", those groves along the sides and top, and the general shape. They were used for hunting.
That rock has an unusual shape and could have been used by early man IF one side of it looks like it was chipped from hammering at something.
Many ancient peoples used arrow heads made of metal, stone and various minerals. Yours looks sort of like the mineral flint or jasper.
Peace tells me that you could find more exact information at a local museum or university where they would be familiar with what might be found in your area. They can be able to give you an approximate age and possibly an Indian tribe that might have made and used it.
Hope your dog finds you more stuff!
REX
In a message dated 25/1/98 20:30:06, you wrote: <<Hi Rex, I wanted to send you a question and see if you could answer it..(maybe I'll even win a Beanie Baby :)...I don't have any of the dinosaurs...) My question is about fossils... How do palientoligists (did I spell that right?) figure out how old a fossil is...I know they classify them into different periods like jurassic (did I spell that right?) but how do they know which period to put it in? Is that a good question? I hope so..Thank you Rex, Your Friend Julie Alabama>>
Hi Julie,
Peace always has a dictionary handy when he is not sure of how to spell a word. You should have one on your desk or table when you write a report for school so the teacher doesn't put a lot of red marks on your pages. Your spelling was almost correct! I don't take off for spelling!
Fossil scientists, or palaeontologists as they are called, find fossil bones or seashells or plants or whatever in certain kinds of rocks.
The rock with the fossils in it can be dated in 2 basic ways:
1) a "relative" age - that is when the layers of rock with the fossils are ABOVE a rock that has a certain age (the fossils would usually be YOUNGER than the rock below them) , or BELOW a formation that has a known age (that would make the fossils usually OLDER than the layers on top of them). It is sort of like a fossil "book" of ages. If you have a closed book on your desk, page 21 is above page 79, and page 113 is below page 79 (unless your book is bottom side up!). That would make page 79 older than page 21 and younger than page 113.
2) an "absolute" or radiometric age - this way of telling how old a rock is can be a little more complicated. Scientists have to find certain types of minerals in the rock containing the fossils. They then study these usually radioactive minerals and figure out how long they have been in the rock. I explained very briefly how this was done in another question on the Earth Science answers page.
REX
In a message dated 23/1/98 17:33:54, you wrote: <<Hey Rex, I have a question for you: Do you know how long ago did the species of Homo heidelbergensis live? Thanks. Rick, From Massachusetts>>
Hello Rick,
Well, let's see what I can remember about this early fossil man.
"Homo heidelbergensis", as he is called by scientists, was discovered in 1908 in a gravel pit in Mauer, near the famous German university city of Heidelberg. He was named by Schoetensack in the same year. He was also called "Palaeanthropus", "Pseudhomo" and "Praehomo europeus". WOW, what a bunch of names!
Peace saw that you must be a scientist because you underlined the scientific name. That that is how it is supposed to be done.
Peace thinks that Heidelberg Man lived about 400,000 years ago, but as I said in other answers, every year scientists come up with better and more exact ways to measure things. So the precise "age" of many fossils changes all the time.
REX
In a message dated 20/1/98 13:19:18, you wrote: <<Hi......I was wondering if you knew any words in latin/greek........Its an interesting language and I would like to learn more about it!>>
Hi Rose,
What I and my Beanie pals know about foreign languages, including Latin and Greek, was all learned from reading a lot of books. There are many books on every language you can think of. Peace has a lot of certificates hanging in his room that he got for reading so many books and writing reports on each of them ! Then at night he teaches the younger Beanies about what he read. Iggy like to hear the stories he tells.
When we have our science classes, we discovered that the names scientists give to animals and plants describe something about the them. I already explained on my homepage what my name means. The dog you or your friends might have is named "Canis familiaris", meaning the "familiar" or domesticated dog. Did you know that the Canary Islands were NOT named for the canary birds but rather for the unusual type of dog the first Europeans found there? Do you know where the Canary Islands are and how many main islands there are?
REX
In a message dated 21/1/98 01:04:26, you wrote: <<Hi, my name is Krystal and I'm in 6th grade. I have two questions... 1.) We have a rock with a fossilized fish in it, how do things get fossilized? 2.) What is the good trader's list? Thank you for helping me out , and I think it's neat how you answer people's questions like this. :) P.S. Cool poem! >>
Hello Krystal,
WOW, a fossil fish! They are kewl!
Your fish fossil was just like Goldie or Coral or Bubbles, happily swimming in the water. When he died he sank to the bottom and sand and mud fell on top of him. After a very long time many yards or even miles of sediment (the sand and mud) covered the bones and scales of the poor dead fish. The sediment dried out eventually and hardened into rock. Nothing was left but the "hard parts" of the fish on the flat surface of the stone, maybe a mudstone or shale -- that's what your fish fossil is.
There are many other way for things to get fossilized. Check out my human friend Sonny's page on fossils where he wrote something about this.
The Good Traders Lists are lists of people that have found new homes for their Beanies by trading them or by offering them for adoption. All of my Beanie pals love to move from one home to another because they always find new children to play with. The GT list tells you which people are good people to work with in looking for new Beanies or in offering them for adoption.
When you trade or sell, for example, the person who received your Beanie (IF it was as you described it to be) would want other Beanie people to know that you are an honest person to deal with and they send your name to the one who makes the list. Other people check the list, sort of like your "references" when you go out to look for a job.
Then, on the other hand, if you said that your Beanie was as minty fresh as it was when it came from the Beanie Cloning Center BUT in reality it was all chewed up and dirty, with bent or torn labels, then the person you sent it to would be VERY unhappy because they either sent you a like-new Beanie or $$ for what they thought would be a perfectly nice new friend. Then they send your name to the Bad Traders list, and nobody would want to deal with you.
It is always best to be truthful in life no matter what you do.
I am glad you like the poem I made up-- thanks.
REX
In a message dated 13/1/98 01:40:41, you wrote: <<Dear Rex, I've been interested in fossils for quite a while now, especially after a field trip I went on with my class a few years ago. We learned that fossils can be found almost anywhere that there is exposed rock. We were expecting to find plants and maybe even animal bones and all sorts of other things, but we only came across some simple sea plants. Back in the "Prehistoric Era", what areas of the world were under water, and which were exposed land? I'd like to find some "Land animal" fossils for my collection! Hope you can help, thanks Rex!! -Shelby from St. Charles, Missouri >>
Hello Shelby,
Aren't fossil collecting trips fun? Fossils can also be found in "unexposed" rocks, only it takes you a while longer to "expose" them!
Most of the land areas of the Earth were under water at some time in the past. And you would not have recognized the continent shapes millions of years ago.
There are loads of all kinds of fossils in your State. Check out my friend Sonny's #1845 on his invertebrate fossil list.
Sonny tells me that if you write to the Geological Survey of your State, usually located in the capitol city, or go to a science museum you will probably find several inexpensive publications that tell you all about the fossils you can find there. And they might even contain maps showing what was land and which places were covered by water at different times in the past.
Happy fossil hunting,
REX
In a message dated 10/1/98 01:33:16, you wrote: <<Dear Rex, One question I have is about amber. Scientists and other peoble are finding a goldish rocks called amber with bugs and other things trapped inside. Amber is made from tree sap right? So, my question is, are any of those rocks from prehistoric times? My other question is about Princess. Do you know if all the stores that carry beanie babies will get Princess or just some? That's all I needed to know, thanks! Annie P.S. Do you know how I could write to Nip?>>
Hi Annie,
Amber is a fossil. It can be many millions of years old, so the insects , snails and even lizards that scientists have found inside these beautiful amber colored clumps of hardened resin are also fossils that lived when the tree did.
If you go to a pine forest you will often see a sticky liquid dripping down the tree trunk. It smells good, just like a Christmas tree. That is what is called sap or resin, and as it drips, sometimes leaves, insects or other smaller animals can get caught in it and die. After a while it gets hard as a rock, and anything trapped in it is very well preserved.
Did you ever see necklaces made of many amber nuggets? Did you know that in the old days they made varnish out of ground up amber?
Princess told me that the Beanie adoption centers will all get plenty of her sisters, so be on the lookout for them.
Nip doesn't have his own web page yet, but he and a lot of other Beanies are thinking of starting theirs. If you want to ask him something he said you could ask me and I will give him the message.
REX
In a message dated 11/1/98 03:27:08, you wrote: <<Rex, Just tell Nip he is my favorite beanie babie. Thanks, Annie >>
Hi Annie,
This is Nip. REX let me try out his computer to say hello to you. I love you too. Hope you do well in school this year.
NIP
In a message dated 2/1/98 19:00:02, you wrote: <<When was the first explanation of what a fossil is? (like-when did somebody first explain what a fossil is).I want to know this just because I am interested in fossils! thanks! Stephanie ps what beanie babie are you giving to the best question? bye>>
Stephanie,
If I remember right, Leonardo DaVinci once told me that he thought it was interesting when he found petrified seashells high in the mountains, and since they don't live there anymore, they must have lived in the salt water, which is normal for seashells, and that they must have lived a long time ago when the water was where the mountain top is now. That was way back in the 15th century.
When I decide, at the end of the month, which was the winning question I shall just stick my hand into a big cave full of Beanies and pick one. I will be as surprised as the winner will be.
REX