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dinosaurs

We only know dinosaurs existed because their bones slowly turned to stone over millions and millions of years, buried deep in mud and rock.

What do we call these ancient bones that turned into rock?

Fossils
When a dinosaur died and got buried quickly in mud or sand, minerals slowly seeped into its bones over millions of years and replaced them with hard rock, keeping the same shape. That is why paleontologists, scientists who study fossils, can dig them up today and learn what dinosaurs looked like.

These ancient bones turned into rock are called fossils. When a dinosaur died and got buried quickly in mud, water carrying minerals slowly seeped into the bones over millions of years, replacing them with hard rock while keeping the same shape.

Crystals form when minerals grow in repeating patterns, but they don't preserve a creature's shape. Meteorites are rocks falling from space, unrelated to buried bones, so neither matches what happened here.

Paleontologists sometimes find fossilized skin or footprints, not just bones, giving us a surprisingly detailed picture of how dinosaurs actually looked and moved.

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dinosaurs

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