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What to do when you think you found a fossil

Carys Mills

Rating: ****

I really liked this article because it spoke about fossils and what to do when you think you’ve found one. There are millions of fossils in North America. They can be found just about anywhere, in your backyard on one of your patio stones, in the forest, at the beach, etc. Since Canadians spend so much time outdoors, I think it would be a good idea if people realized that they might find a very rare fossil right under their feet.

The article tells us that fossils are mainly the bits that didn’t rot away. A fossil will be an imprint on a rock. It might look like a bird, a lizard, a snail, or even a fish. What makes the imprint is the remains that was once bone, shell or a coral like object.

What do you do if you think you found a fossil? Well, most people don’t know this, but you can take your fossil to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto where they have a fossil identification clinic every two months. You can even take an IPhone picture of the fossil and email it to the ROM. They will analyze it and tell you if it’s a real fossil, what it once was and if it is a rare find.

What’s really interesting about this article is that it teaches people to watch out for fossils and what to do if they find one. Basically, anyone can be a fossil finder and reporter, from a small kid to an adult. With all the hiking, jogging, swimming, mountain climbing that Canadians do, it seems that there are many opportunities to find fossils. From now on, whenever I’m hiking or camping, I’m going to see if I can spot a fossil. If I find one, I’ll know what to do with it.

Mills Carys. ‘What to do when you think you found a fossil.’ Nature Feb 2015