5 Most Important Fossil Discoveries in the World

Any preserved traces, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological period is known as a fossil. Bones, eggs, exoskeletons, animal or microbe imprints in stone, amber-preserved artifacts, feathers, petrified wood, oil, gas, and DNA fragments are only few examples.

Fossils range in scale from one-micrometer microbes to fossils and trees that are several meters tall and weigh hundreds of tons.

In most cases, a fossil only retains a fraction of the dead body, commonly the portion that was partly preserved during development, such as vertebrates' bones and teeth or invertebrates' chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons. Fossils may also be made up of the marks that an object left behind when it was living, such as animal footprints or feces (coprolites). In contrast to body fossils, these kinds of fossils are known as trace fossils or ichnofossils. Chemofossils or biosignatures are biochemically preserved fossils.

Here are 5 of the most famous fossil discoveries in history:

Yuka Mammoth

Sue is the nickname given to FMNH PR 2081, one of the most complete, detailed, and well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered, with over 90% recovered by bulk. Sue Hendrickson, an adventurer and fossil hunter found it on August 12, 1990, and it was named after her. The fossil was auctioned in October 1997 for US$8.3 million, the largest price ever charged for a dinosaur fossil until October 7, 2020, when T. rex Stan was auctioned for US$31.8 million after ownership issues were resolved. Sue has been a permanent exhibit at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

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