Fossils are traces or remains of ancient (dead) organisms. Examples of fossils can be a tooth of a dinosaur, a foot print, bones, stone imprints, shells or even animal waste!
Fossils can be formed in many ways! The two major types of fossils are body fossils and trace fossils.
Let's start with the simpler one!
Trace fossils- They are left-behind tracks, trails or burrows of the actual organism.
Body fossils are the remains of the actual organism. Usually, the soft part of the organism, such as the skin, tissue, muscle, rots away after the animal/creature dies. The hard part, such as the skeleton or bones are more likely to get preserved. Examples of body fossils can be molds and casts.
Fossils can be found all around the world! However, fossils are usually located in sedimentary rocks. They can also be formed in metamorphic rocks, but that's not the usual case. They will never be present in igneous rocks since they are made of substances like molten lava- cooled down.
The study of fossils is known as "paleontology." Scientists who studies fossils are known as "paleontologist"
Fossils can be used to find out when an animal was extinct, where it lived, how it lived, the cause of it's death, how long it lived and even when it first appeared.