Become a backyard geologist—in one week
National Geographic's Wonder Lessons will teach you how to navigate the stars, spot cloud types, recognize common trees, and identify different kinds of rocks. Today, we’re learning about fossils.
Every fossil is a rarity because most organisms never make it into the fossil record. They’re scavenged, decompose, or vanish before they can be buried and compacted into sedimentary rocks, where most fossils are found.
What counts as a fossil can vary, but the term refers to the remains, imprints, or traces of long-dead organisms found in rocks.
Where you can find them: At Wyoming’s Fossil Butte National Monument, you can see exquisite 50-million-year-old fish fossils created thanks to pure serendipity. They died at the right place and sank into the right mud. An alkaline lake, thick with fine silts and clays, formed in the shadow of the young Rocky Mountains. Fish sank into the deep, oxygen-poor waters where scavengers couldn’t reach them. Their soft tissue decayed, but bones and other delicate structures remained.
Other first-tier fossil stops you can head to include Utah and Colorado’s Dinosaur National Monument or Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park.
Better yet, start looking for fossils today by flipping over stones wherever sedimentary rocks are exposed near you.
Want to experience more wonder? National Geographic’s Wonder List features playful prompts and activities that turn everyday moments into wonder-filled discoveries—for families, anywhere, every day.
Illustrations by: Matt Twombly
Interactive by: JoElla Carman
