At this fossil trackway on a hill in northwest China's Gansu province in 2001, scientists found more than 100 dinosaur footprints composed of 10 different groups. They were estimated to be at least 100 million years old, most likely from the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous period. Next, see a slightly more mysterious fossil.
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This mysterious fossil, known as "Valle," was discovered in a cave in northern Italy and is now at the Old Witchcraft Museum in Segovia, Spain. Click to the next picture to see an unusual ocean dweller.
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This skull of a 100-million-year-old crocodilian dinosaur, from the Cretaceous period, was the first complete dinosaur skull to be discovered in Korea. Next you'll see another former water-dweller.
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Scientists uncovered this unusual Carboniferous sea creature, Eurypterus mansfieldi, during a geological survey of Pennsylvania. The next fossil is an excellent specimen of its species.
Image Credit: United States Geological Survey
The discovery of this Oviraptor nest full of eggs in the Gobi Desert was significant because it showed that some dinosaurs cared for their young. Which fossil has been the subject of some debate over the years? Click to the next page to find out.
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
These fossilized eggs were on display in 2006 at the Inner Mongolia Museum in the northern China regional capital of Hohhot. This region is known as a hotbed for giant prehistoric fossils, but illegal trade threatens the fossil record. What do you get when you cross a gazelle with a camel? Maybe a creature similar to the next fossil.
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Scientists discovered this fossilized skeleton of Stenomylus, a gazelle-like camel, at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska. Click to the next picture to see an unusual sea creature.
Image Credit: National Parks Service/National Archives
Three-foot-long "Ida," discovered in Germany, is the most complete fossil primate ever found and is approximately 47 million years old. Our next fossil represents a pretty pattern in nature.
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This fossil shows a very well-preserved fish, dating back millions of years. The next fossil was part of a fearsome prehistoric predator.
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This fossilized Mosasaur jaw belonged to a large, predatory marine lizard from the Cretaceous period. A slightly less harmful sea creature is preserved on the next page.
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This unusually well-preserved fossil stingray, Heliobatis radians, dates back to the Eocene era and was discovered in the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The next picture gives you a glimpse into fossil research.
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Erich Fitzgerald, a Museum Victoria research associate and Monash University Ph.D. student, is inspecting the skull of a 25-million-year-old fossil from southeast Australia. This fossil was an important find because it helped identify a new family of small, highly predatory, toothed baleen whales with enormous eyes. Which fossil helps prove geological theories? Click to the next page to find out.
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This fossilized sea creature, discovered significantly above sea level in a desert environment in Spain, helps show how two of Earth's plates may have collided and pushed upward to make mountains. Our next fossil is important to the study of dinosaurs.
Image Credit: United States Geological Survey
Scientists discovered this fossilized Sinornithos skeleton in a 130-million-year-old forest in China, and it is used to study dinosaur biology at the American Museum of Natural History. Which important find was discovered by a child? Find out on the next page.
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The 9-year-old son of a scientist found this fossil of Australopithecus sediba, a newly discovered hominid species that lived in 1.95 million years ago, in a cave in South Africa. Next up is the fossil of a formerly dangerous dinosaur.
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This 130-million-year-old Microraptor fossil, found in what is now Liaoning Province, China, was on display at the American Museum of Natural History in 2005. Well-preserved fossils like this one help researchers make new discoveries about dinosaur biology. On the next page, see a fascinating microscopic fossil.
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The earthworm-like object in this scanning electron microscope image of a sample of Martian meteorite ALH84001 has fascinated researchers. It's smaller than any bacteria fossils found on Earth, and researchers believe it could be a fossil of Martian bacteria. With new technology and discoveries like this, evidence of past life on Mars continues to mount.
Now that you've seen pictures of some of the strangest fossils, take our dig this fossil quiz and see what you really know!
Image Credit: NASA
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