Fantastic
Fossils
Click & the Kids
story and art by Meg McLean
Amy
Martin
Click
Liz
(the sitter)
Did you find something
interesting, Martin?
I think so. It’s a
funny-looking rock.
2
fossil
See? Somebody carved
a seashell on it.
What a beautiful
fossil, Martin!
Fossil? We
thought it
was a shell.
This is a fossil of a shell. Millions of years ago a real
shell was buried here. After a very long time the
shell dissolved away to leave this impression.
That’s sort of
the way we
make prints
of our hands
in plaster.
Only our
hand prints
don’t take
as long to
make.
3
But how did a seashell end
up here? This big lake isn’t
anywhere near the ocean.
Because millions of years
ago the sea covered this
part of Earth.
You mean, we’re
standing on the
ocean floor?
He’s right.
Good thing I always
bring my water wings.
If the seashell is millions of
years old, it might have been
around when the dinosaurs
were here! Maybe we’ll
find some fossils of dinosaur
bones too!
4
Good idea, Martin! Dinosaur
bones should be easy to find.
They’re so big. You look over
there and I’ll look over here.
Any luck?
Nope. Not a
single bone.
Me neither. I have a
feeling this isn’t so simple.
Liz, Martin and I have been
hunting for dinosaur bones
for at least half an hour and
we haven’t found anything!
Discovering dinosaur
fossils can take a lifetime
of digging, so don’t be
discouraged. They can
turn up anywhere. But
now I’m afraid it’s time
to head for home and
leave the fossils for
another day.
5
Liz just said “digging,”
didn’t she?
Yes. Nobody
mentioned we
have to dig.
After lunch, I
thought we’d
finish that book
we started
yesterday. Does
that sound like
fun?
Amy?
Martin?
6
And she said fossils can
turn up anywhere.
Are you
thinking what
I’m thinking?
Can You Do Dino?
art by Sarah Beise
If you were a Tyrannosaurus rex . . .
You’d have teeth the size
of bananas and a jaw
strong enough to crush
bones in one bite.
You’d use your
mighty tail to
balance your big,
heavy head.
You’d walk on two
huge, powerful
back legs.
Your short,
two-fingered
arms could not
reach very far—
not even to your
mouth!
7
If you were a Stegosaurus . . .
You’d walk on four legs, but your
back legs would be much, much
longer than your front legs, so
you’d need to walk slowly.
You’d eat only plants and
lots of them—hundreds
of pounds each day.
8
You’d be famous for the
giant pointy plates on your
back. But no one today
knows why you had them.
You’d have cheeks
(most dinosaurs
didn’t) that could
hold food while
you chewed.
If you were an Argentinosaurus . . .
You’d be one of the largest animals
who ever lived, weighing more
than 12 African elephants.
Your long neck
would let you eat
from treetops or
munch a meadow
full of plants without
ever taking a step.
You’d slowly plod along on four
giant legs. You probably couldn’t
run or climb, but you could
cross a bedroom in one step.
9
If you were an Oviraptor . . .
You’d have a strong beak with no
teeth. Scientists once thought you
cracked eggs with it, but now they
think you might have used it to
open clam shells.
You would have feathers.
You couldn’t fly, but you
might have shaken your tail
feathers to charm a mate.
You could run fast on your
long, sturdy back legs.
You would take good care
of your eggs and nest.
Which
dinosaur
do you want
to be?
10
Meet a
Fossil Expert
I’m visiting my
friend Akiko Shinya
today. She is
the chief fossil
preparator at the
Field Museum in
Chicago.
Hi, Akiko. Preparator is a hard word to say.
What does a fossil preparator do?
I prepare fossils so they can be studied. I
remove the matrix—that’s the rock that
surrounds a fossil—so you can clearly see all
the fossil’s details.
How do you do that?
We use powerful air scribes to remove most of
the rock. They’re basically mini jackhammers.
When we get closer to the fossil surface, we
switch to small pencil-like tools with sharp
needle-like tips.
Cool!
Akiko uses an air
scribe to chip rock
away from a fossil.
11
Yes, seeing a fossil come out of the rock is
amazing. Most fossils have been hiding in
rock unseen for millions of years, and it’s
exciting to uncover and expose them.
Does it take
long?
Akiko and the other
fossil preparators do
much of their work
under a microscope
to make sure they
do not damage the
fossils.
It can. It
sometimes takes
more than a
year to complete
cleaning one
fossil. Trying
to get it done
quicker may
damage the
fossil, so I have
to be patient.
Do you spend all your
time cleaning fossils?
No, I also go out on
fieldwork to hunt and
dig fossils.
Where have you
been?
Akiko’s fossil-hunting trips can last anywhere from
one week to three months at a time.
12
I’ve done fieldwork
in the United States,
Canada, Romania,
China, Argentina,
and Antarctica.
Do you have a
favorite place?
Everywhere! I love
finding fossils.
How do you know
where to dig?
Most fossils are
found in deserts
where there are exposed sedimentary
rocks, such as mudstone and sandstone.
Sedimentary rocks often pile up in layers of
different ages, with the oldest layers at the
bottom. We use maps that tell us where to
find rock layers that are about the right age
for fossils.
In Antarctica, Akiko
and the rest of the
team had to fly in a
helicopter to every
dig location to avoid
accidents.
And then you dig?
Not quite. Once you are in a good area,
you start walking around until you spot
fragments of fossils. When you see a lot of
fragments, then you start digging around to
see if there are more fossils. The
more you find, the more you dig.
This looks like a good
place to dig!
13
How do you know when you’ve found a
fossil, especially if it’s just a little piece?
We usually identify fossils by their shape.
Knowing how
animal bodies are
shaped and fit
together helps a lot.
There are other clues
too.
Once the team can see
parts of a fossil skeleton,
they lay a grid over it.
Then they draw all the
bones on grid paper so
they know exactly where
each bone was found.
Like what?
Well, think about
how a dinosaur
fossil forms. When a
dinosaur dies and is buried in mud,
its soft parts rot away, leaving
hard bones. The bones slowly
soak up minerals from the water
underground and turn into stone.
But they keep their bone shape and
texture.
Akiko in Argentina, where she found Gualicho shinyae.
14
Chunks of rock with fossils in
them get carefully wrapped up in
plaster and sent to the museum,
where Akiko will clean them.
Right! And bones aren’t
solid inside. They look
spongy. Fossil bones look
spongy inside too. So
sometimes we do a lick
test. If you touch a fossil
bone with your tongue,
it will stick because of
the spongy holes. A
plain rock won’t.
Do you have a favorite fossil or dinosaur?
Lots! One is a small feathered dinosaur
called Buitreraptor gonzalezorum. Scientists
brought its bones to the museum when
I first started working
there. Preparing it was
my first big team project.
Akiko (far right)
poses with the rest of
the team and part of
the Siats meekerorum
they found.
Wow!
Siats meekerorum is
another favorite. I was
on the team that found
this dino’s bones in Utah.
We dug it out, cleaned it,
and even got to name it
because it was a new kind of dinosaur.
That sounds amazing!
But my very favorite is Gualicho shinyae. I
found it in Argentina. It turned out to be a
new type of dinosaur too, and my friends
Scientists think
Gualicho shinyae might
have looked like this.
It was a meat-eating
dinosaur with two
Ooh,
15
Yo Wants to Know
by Lea and Alan Daniel
“Oh, boy!” exclaims Yo. “Dinosaurs right
in the middle of a museum! But Grandpa,
where’s the dinosaurs’ skin?”
16
“Dinosaurs lived so long ago, only their
fossil bones are left,” says Grandpa.
“Scientists put them together to show us
what dinosaurs looked like.”
17
“Maybe they were all different colors,”
says Yo. “Maybe this one was pink.”
18
“Hey, Grandpa, here’s a baby.”
“No,” says Grandpa. “It’s a full-grown
Compsognathus. Dinosaurs came in lots
of shapes and sizes.”
19
“Meet—APATOSAURUS!” says Grandpa.
“Wow!” says Yo. “I bet this guy
made the ground shake when he
walked. If I saw him coming, I’d
hide behind a tree.”
“Back then there were no people,”
says Grandpa. “No one’s ever seen
a live dinosaur.”
“But we can make them be alive,”
says Yo. “If we pretend.”
20
21
Dino Defenses
by Elizabeth Preston
N
ot all dinosaurs were big, scary hunters.
Some were gentle giants, and some
were just trying not to get eaten. How did
they protect themselves?
Horns
You wouldn’t want
to battle a dinosaur
like Triceratops or
Torosaurus. They had big
horns coming right out of the
middle of their faces.
These horns
could have kept the
dinosaurs safe from
hungry hunters. But
they might have just
been for showing off or
saying “I’m the boss.”
No one knows for sure.
22
Suits of Armor
Some dinosaurs wore built-in armor
to stay safe. Nodosaurus had a back
covered in bony plates and knobs.
Sauropelta had spikes all over its
bony armor. Good luck taking a bite out
of this dinosaur!
23
Dangerous Tails
Ankylosaurus
had thick armor for
protection. But it also
had a bony club at the
end of its tail. It could
probably swing its
tail to hit and hurt
its enemies.
Stegosaurus had
bony spikes on the tip of
its tail. Scientists are
pretty sure it used its
tail like a weapon,
at least sometimes. But the spikes
might have been for decoration too.
24
Safety in Numbers
I don’t have horns
or armor or a
spiky tail. Maybe I
should join a herd!
Some dinosaurs got protection from
running with a pack. Plant-eating
dinos such as sauropods traveled
together in big herds. Today, scientists
can see the footprints those dinosaur
crowds left behind.
25
Dinosaur
by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
art by Paul Meisel
E
very afternoon after school, Carla loved
playing outdoors. Her dad had torn down an
old shed in the backyard last year. Now there was
a big, wonderful patch of mud right where the
shed used to be. That was Carla’s favorite spot.
She liked to run right to the edge of the
muddy patch and bend down close to have a
look. The mud was not too wet and not too dry. It
was just right for footprints! If she looked closely,
Carla could see who had walked through the
backyard that day.
26
Carla knew you can often tell an animal (or
a person!) by the footprints it leaves. But one
afternoon she spotted some footprints she’d
never seen in the backyard before.
They looked like this.
What kind of animal could have left those?
Carla was sure she’d seen feet like that
somewhere before. She thought and thought.
And then she remembered. She raced up to her
brother’s room.
“Dan, I need to see your Tyrannosaurus rex
skeleton!” she shouted.
Dan did not share his model dinosaur
skeletons with just anyone. Especially not
with little kids. “What for?” he demanded.
“I need to see its feet,” said Carla.
That got Dan’s attention. “Meat-eating
dinosaurs do have very cool feet,” he said,
as he took his T. rex down from its shelf.
“Three long toes pointing forward. And one
smaller toe facing backward.”
27
“Meat-eating! This could be trouble!” Carla raced
back downstairs. She swung around the corner into
the kitchen and bumped into her dad.
“Whoa, hold on!” he said. “Where are you going
in such a hurry?”
“There was a DINOSAUR in our backyard!”
she cried.
Carla’s dad laughed. “Yes, maybe 65 million years
ago there was.”
“No!” cried Carla. “Today. While I was at school!”
“You have a wonderful imagination,” said Dad. “It
reminds me of the story of Danny and the Dinosaur—”
Dad was about to tell his favorite story. Again! But
Carla stopped him. “It’s not a story! I have proof,”
she said.
“Proof?” asked Dad.
“Footprints,” declared Carla. “Come see.”
28
Dad peered down at the footprints in the
mud. He scratched his head. “Hmm, they look
like bird footprints. They are pretty big, though,
almost as big as your hand.”
While Dad was thinking, Dan arrived with
his T. rex model. He studied the tracks and said,
“They’re too small for a grown-up T. rex. Maybe
it was a baby.”
“Dan! Don’t tease your sister,” scolded Dad.
“Those are bird tracks of some kind.”
“Well, they sure look like dinosaur tracks to
me,” said Dan. He stuck his model’s feet in the
mud to make little T. rex tracks. “Look.”
Dad stared at the two sets of tracks. “They do
look a lot alike,” he said. “Dan, take a photo
of the big tracks with your phone. I think it’s
time for a trip to the Natural History Museum.
Maybe they can help us solve this mystery.”
29
The next day, as soon as they arrived at the
museum, Carla spotted her favorite museum
guide, Ms. Perez. Carla grabbed Dan’s phone and
went right up to Ms. Perez. She showed her the
photo. “I think we might have a dinosaur in our
backyard!” Carla declared.
Ms. Perez smiled. “Wow! You sure do,” she said.
“Those are beautiful tracks!”
“See,” Carla said, giving her dad a sideways
glance.
“But aren’t dinosaurs extinct?” asked Dad.
“Well,” said Ms. Perez. “All the big dinosaurs
died out 65 million years ago, of course. But some
of the smaller ones survived. We call them birds!”
Dad looked more puzzled than ever. “So you’re
saying that birds are living dinosaurs?”
“Yes,” said Ms. Perez. “But you don’t look very
convinced. Come on, let’s go see the museum’s
new display.”
30
Carla looked closely at both skeletons. “The big
bird’s feet look almost exactly the same as the
dinosaur’s!” she exclaimed. “Each foot has three
long front toes with claws and a weird, little back
toe.”
“And they’re both standing on two legs, with
their legs straight underneath them—not sprawled
out to the sides, like crocodiles or lizards,” said Dan.
“Great observations,” said Ms. Perez. “All meateating dinosaurs share those traits with birds. And
they all have a simple joint that moves like a hinge
in each ankle. Anything else?”
“They’re walking on their toes,” said Carla.
31
“And the bird has a long, curved neck like
the dinosaur’s too,” said Dan.
“Exactly right,” said Ms. Perez.
“Well, all the birds in our backyard have
feathers,” said Dad. “And one thing I know for
sure is that dinosaurs were scaly, like lizards.”
“A lot of dinosaurs did have feathers,” Dan
interrupted. “Probably even T. rex!”
“Right again,” said Ms. Perez. She showed
them a dinosaur fossil. “See the wispy lines
around the arms and tail? Those are feathers.”
“Wow,” said Carla.
“Wait,” said Dad. “What about teeth? Meateating dinosaurs had sharp teeth, and I’m pretty
sure that birds don’t have teeth at all.”
“True,” said Ms. Perez. “But, like birds, meateating dinos laid eggs in nests and had wishbones
and flexible wrists and hollow bones and—”
Dad grinned. “OK, OK,” he said. “I’m convinced.”
“Thanks, Ms. Perez,” said Carla. “Come on, Dad,
let’s go home and see if we can find out what kind
of dinosaur we have.”
32
That afternoon Carla slipped quietly
out to the backyard. She hid behind a
bush. She watched and watched and
watched. Finally, a tall bird strode
slowly through the mud. He spread
out his big tail feathers and shook
them. “Gobble, gobble, gobble,” he
called.
“Oh, he’s beautiful,” thought
Carla, and she studied him happily
until he left the yard. Then she ran
inside and drew a picture to show
her dad and Dan. They helped her
find the bird in their local field
guide. “Wild Turkey,” said the label
under the photo.
Carla smiled with satisfaction
as she declared, “Our very own
wild dinosaur!”
33
Trace Fossils
L
iving things such as animals
and plants can become fossils,
but fossils can also come from
what living things leave behind.
These kinds of fossils are called
trace fossils. Footprints, nests, and
even poop can become trace fossils.
They give us clues to past life.
Fossilized poop can show what
dinosaurs ate.
A nest lets us see how a
dinosaur laid her eggs.
Many tracks together might mean
the dinosaurs traveled in a group.
Grateful acknowledgment is given to the following publishers and copyright owners for permission to reprint selections from their publications. All possible care has been taken to trace ownership and secure
permission for each selection. “Can You Do Dino?” art © 2016 by Sarah Beise; “Meet A Fossil Expert” art © 2016 by Nobu Tamura; “Dino Defenses” text © 2016 by Elizabeth Preston; “Dinosaur Tracking!” text © 2016
by Kathleen Zoehfeld, art © 2016 by Paul Meisel.
Photo acknowledgments: Cover Lestertair/Shutterstock.com; 7 (RB) Warpaint/Shutterstock.com; 8 (TC) Ekaterina Glazkova/Shutterstock.com; 9 (BC) Catmando/Shutterstock.com; 10 (TC) StockTrek Images/Jan
Sovak; 11–15 (BG) Yevgen Kravchenko/Shutterstock.com; 11–15 (spot), 11 (LB) Courtesy of A. Shinya; 12 (RT) John Weinstein, © Field Museum, 2009; 12 (LB), 13 (RT) Courtesy of A. Shinya; 13 (LB), (RB), 14 (RT), (RC)
Greg Mercer, © Field Museum, 2016; 14 (LB), 15 (RT) Courtesy of A. Shinya; 22 (RT) Fresnel/Shutterstock.com; 22 (LB) Warpaint/Shutterstock.com; 23 (TC) Universal Images Group North America LLC/DeAgostini
/Alamy Stock Photo; 23 (BC), 24 (RT) Catmando/Shutterstock.com; 24 (BC), 25 (BC) Stocktrek Images, Inc./Alamy Stock Photo; 34 (RT) Alex Coan/Shutterstock.com; 34 (LC) Danielle Beder/Shutterstock.com; 34 (RC)
Maksim Shchur/Shutterstock.com; 39 (LT) Dotted Yeti/Shutterstock.com; back cover (CC) BeautifulBlossoms/Shutterstock.com; back cover (LB) Jarous/Shutterstock.com.
34
BADMINTON…
IS THERE A
GOODMINTON?
Cricket?
That’s a bug.
No—that’s a
magazine!
What about
skateboarding?
SOCCER?
YOU MEAN
FOOTBALL?
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35
Our brachiosaurus is holding its
head up so it can eat leaves from
treetops. Here’s how to make it.
2. Fold the edges of the square
along the green lines so the edges line
up with the crease. Fold along the black
line again so you have a green triangle.
(continued on next page)
CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
1. Cut out the large square along
the black dashed lines. Place the
square with the green side down.
Fold it diagonally in half along the
solid black line, and then unfold to
make a crease.
CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
Brachiosaurus was a huge plant-eating
dinosaur who lived around 150 million
years ago. Scientists think it was
built a bit like a giant
giraffe, with a long neck, a
small head, and front legs
longer than its back legs. But
no one knows for sure if it held its neck straight up,
stretched out in front, or somewhere in between.
CLICK TAKEOUT PAGES Please remove carefully at fold.
Brachiosaurus
3. Cut out the yellow notches along the
blue dashed lines.
4. To form the neck, fold back and
forth on the purple line. Open the
triangle a little, and bend the pointy
tip back toward the black line. The
neck will fold back over the body along
the purple line.
5. To form the head, repeat step 4 but
along the brown line and fold back over the neck.
6. Fold back and forth on the yellow line, and tuck
the tip into the head.
7. For the tail, fold along the red line and let the tail
curl to one side.
!
!
May/June 2023
Volume 26
Number 5
cricketmedia.com
$6.95
Millions of years ago, long
before there were people,
there were dinosaurs—
big ones, little ones, meat
eaters, plant eaters.
The World’s Greatest
Fossil Photographer
By John Grandits
Illustrated by Paige Billin-Frye
But they’re all gone
now. We know about
them only by studying
their fossils.
But some animals today are
called living fossils. They lived in
the time of the dinosaurs and
have barely changed since.
One example is
the tuatara. It
can be traced
back 200 million
years!
Yikes! And I thought
my mom was old.
Horseshoe
crabs are even older.
They first appeared
more than 450 million
years ago!
Beatrice, what are
you saying about
me?!