• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

How Come Dinosaur Bones Can Survive For So Long?

February 24, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

When you learn about fossils, you start seeing dates thrown about like “265 million years old” and “dating back to the Jurassic” like it’s no big deal. Fossils can be incredibly, inconceivably old, but how do they survive so long while animal bones decay in just a few years?

It all comes down to the conditions in which an animal died, and what happened to their remains after they’d kicked the bucket. IFLScience got to see first-hand the fossilized bones of a giant sea monster that was chomping things in half 150 million years ago. As fossil expert Steve Etches MBE told IFLScience, part of the reason the pliosaur – an ancient marine reptile – was preserved so well was because it rolled in death, preserving its smile as it lay face-down in the mud.

Advertisement

“It’s good that it was upside-down because actually, this is the best side,” said Etches. “When you find a fossil in a ledge or whatever, we always turn them upside-down because when it dies, the bit that goes down in the mud is undisturbed. It’s always the top side that starts to degrade more rapidly.”

Soft tissues typically decompose fairly quickly, though we do find rare examples of preserved bits of skin (even if some of them turn out to be forgeries). As for what keeps those bones seemingly so intact for millions of years, it all comes down to fossilization.

What is fossilization?

Fossilization can take many forms, but the best fossils are typically formed when the animal is quickly encased in sediment – like our upside-down giant sea monster – which can be in the form of mud or volcanic ash. As this sediment builds up it becomes lithified, meaning it turns to rock, locking the animal in place.

Permineralization is the most common type of fossilization that happens when water from the ground, lakes, or ocean carries minerals into organic tissues. Eventually, enough deposits are built up to create a kind of internal cast, which can be made of calcite, iron, or – as in the case of this staggeringly beautiful opalized plesiosaur – silica. 

Advertisement

The minerals replace the organic materials within the bone, like collagen and other proteins, until the fossil contains more mineral crystals than the original bone. Those chalky ammonites you find along the fossil hunter’s haven that is the Jurassic Coast have been filled in with calcite, while the astonishing fool’s gold examples are made up of pyrite.

Microraptor gui fossil

A specimen of Microraptor gui with bones and feathers, on display at the Paleozoological Museum of China.

Image credit: Captmondo, own work, copyrighted free use, via Wikimedia

If you want a fun way to demonstrate how minerals can create an internal cast to keen young scientists, the National Park Service has a great exercise you can try creating internal casts of sponges using salt water.

Are all fossils bones?

No. A fossil can be any trace or remains of past life, be that a footprint, burrow, a bit of skin, or a bone. As the Australian Museum explains, the word fossil is taken from the Latin word fossilis, which just means “dug up”, it’s not specific to bone.

Do animal bones decay?

A little something called the decomposition ecosystem makes quick work of animal remains exposed to the elements, something Dr Devin Finaughty told IFLScience all about during his talk at CURIOUS Live in 2023. “Decomposition is technically defined as the consumption of organic material by other organisms, [and is] distinct from physical degradation of organic remains by physical, erosive forces, like water. The decomposition ecosystem pivots around the dead body as a resource and that’s mainly for food, but many organisms will also use it as a breeding ground as a nursery, and as a shelter.”

Advertisement

Once the decomposition ecosystem has had its fill, all that’s typically left behind is bone, and we can learn a surprising amount from skeletal remains that linger on longer than your typical corpse. They won’t remain forever, however, as even animal bone eventually decomposes. It can take several years, but the delicious collagen found in bones is a food source for bacteria and fungi that will eat away at it until the remains eventually crumble. 

So, if you want to stick around as a fossil for the next few hundred million years, it’s time to write up very elaborate burial wishes.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Paris ramps up security as jihadist attacks trial starts
  2. Cricket-‘Western bloc’ has let Pakistan down, board chief says
  3. Ancient Bison Found In Permafrost Is So Well Preserved Scientists Want To Clone It
  4. Where Inside Us Do We Feel Love?

Source Link: How Come Dinosaur Bones Can Survive For So Long?

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Is The Spiny Devil Katydid The Strangest Insect In The World? You Tell Us
  • Yep, You Can Milk A Snake – These Scientists Extract Venom From Some Of The Deadliest Snakes
  • The Last Remaining Soft Tissues Of A Dodo Date To 1683 CE – And Are Still Going Strong
  • This Indigenous Tribe Has Tragically Forgotten How To Dance, Sing Lullabies And Make Fire
  • Nepal’s Snow Leopard Population Is Bigger Than Previously Thought, But Still Mysterious
  • The Amazon’s “Dark Earth” Was Created By Ancient People Thousands Of Years Ago
  • Watch A Gorgeous White Stingaree Swimming Along The Seafloor
  • Starbase City: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Gets Its Own Municipality In Texas, Complete With A Familiar Mayor
  • What Is The Specific Purpose Of These Lines On Towels?
  • Just 0.001 Percent Of The Deep Ocean Has Been Directly Observed
  • First Ever Image Of “Free Floating” Atoms Snapped By MIT Scientists
  • The Haenyeo “Sea Women” Of Korea Have Evolved For A Life Under The Sea
  • Was Alcatraz Inescapable? A Study Suggests A 1962 Jailbreak May Have Been A Success
  • Title Of Ancient Burnt Herculaneum Scroll Identified For First Time In 2,000 Years
  • New Species Of Incredible “Accordion Worm” Can Squish Down To One-Fifth Of Its Original Size
  • New US Bill Asks NASA To Tackle Relativistic Effects On The Moon And Mars
  • Largest Dam Removal Project In The World Triggers Return Of Salmon After Years Of Campaigning
  • The World’s Most Powerful Superconducting Electromagnet Will Soon Power The Quest For Fusion
  • Japan’s RESILIENCE Lander Will Enter Lunar Orbit Today
  • Australian Mammals’ Black Light Glow Is Caused By Several Different Molecules
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version