An important insight that fossil study could throw up is how plants and animals of different eras adapted to their changing environment. This is particularly crucial for us now as we battle climate change.
During scientific expeditions in 2017 and 2019, a team of scientists discovered something incredibly exciting – Africa’s oldest known dinosaur fossil. The reptile “roamed the earth around 230 million years ago”. What is even more unique about the discovery is that such “remains from the same era had previously been found only in South America and India”. The findings were published recently. Do fossils have any use? Yes, actually much more than one can imagine! Come, let’s delve deeper into this.
Fossils could be anything from skeletal remains to leaf impressions. Studying fossils give us a better understanding of an animal or plant that existed ages ago. That’s not all. Something as tiny as a mosquito trapped in amber is likely to offer us a peek into how evolution works. Or, even a glimpse of the history of our planet. For instance, this dinosaur fossil in Africa “broadens the range that we knew the very first dinosaurs lived in”. But it also does something very significant – the reptile “is remarkably similar to some dinosaurs of the same age found in Brazil and Argentina, reinforcing that South America and Africa were part of continuous landmass during the Late Triassic. Apart from showing us that the now-separated continents were once connected, fossils also help us learn where humans came from, how life forms existed, and how our environment has changed through millions of years.
Another insight that fossil study could throw up is how plants and animals of different eras adapted to their changing environment. This is particularly crucial for us now as we battle dimate change. Understanding revolutionary changes and survival methods may help us equip ourselves better to tackle what is threatening to be a great challenge in the not-so-distant future.
So, do fossil fuels have anything to do with fossils? Without a doubt. But that’s a story for another day!
Picture Credit : Google