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What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?

What's the best place to look for dinosaur fossils?

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This belongs to an extinct animal—but what is it? You might have seen this shape before.
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It’s a fossil shark tooth! Here’s how big its whole mouth was. This extinct shark is called a megalodon, which means “large tooth”!
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Here’s how big a megalodon would have been compared to a great white shark! Megalodons ate whales and other sharks too!
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A farming family in Michigan, USA, found something strange in their yard—a huge fossil! What kind of animal is this fossil from?
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It’s the skull of a mammoth! That’s the ancestor of an elephant! Ancient people lived when mammoths were alive!
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Here’s part of a fossil of another giant creature. Can you tell what kind of creature it is? Hint: Do you see wings?
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It’s a giant dragonfly! Before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there were giant insects. Check out the size of these models!
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This fossil animal is the size of a small car. It has a round, hard back...does it look like any living animals to you?
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Hint: It’s related to one of these three animals. Which one do you think it’s related to and why?
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It’s related to armadillos! It’s called a glyptodont—here’s another fossil of one. It was huge, and had a spiky tail it used for fighting!
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This is a sloth from South America. What do you think a sloth that lived a long time ago (a sloth’s ancestor) might look like?
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Today, sloths climb trees and don't usually stand up (they crawl). But their ancestors were as big as elephants and stood tall!
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Lesson narration:

Overview

In this mini-lesson, students discover the best places to look for dinosaur fossil--and how close to home that may be!

Exploration

5 mins

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