We would never know that dinosaurs ever existed without the discovery of fossils.

There were no humans  to draw, write about or take pictures of  dinosaurs when they were alive.  So how do we know that they ever were here on earth?  How do we know what they looked like, ate, or sounded like?

Special scientist called paleontologist study what life was like in the dinosaur times. The paleontologist find the dinosaur bones and put them together to form the skeleton.

 An artist will then draw what the dinosaur looked like around the skeleton.  That's how we know what they looked like.

This is a skeleton of Triceratops with the artist drawing of what he should look like.

This is a skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex with the artist drawing of what he should look like. 

Fossils are hardened skeletons from many years ago.  

There are also impressions in rock of plant life and other life forms. 

  The fossils of the plant life tells us what the dinosaurs ate.

  Many skeletons of dinosaurs are found in museums today.  Yet, there are many more to be found every day.

Another form of a fossil is an insect trapped in amber.  This is an insect from the Jurassic period.

click on the picture!

Scientist can discover many things from fossils.  They have determined what a baby dinosaur looked like in his egg from a fossil of a dinosaur egg.

They also can reconstruct a dinosaur egg hatching.

**LINKS**

 Building a Dinosaur:   A step by step pictures of a fossil dig         

http://jobaria.org/jobaria/BuildingADino/Building.html

Dinosaur Sounds:  Sounds of many dinosaurs**A must to hear**

www.discovery.com/exp/fossilzone/sounds/dinosounds.html

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