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BTN: South Australia's ancient sea fossils

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BTN Presenter Nathan Bazeley with graphic background of marine creatures, text reads "Weird Fossils"
BTN: South Australia's ancient sea fossils

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  3–4, 5–6, 7–8


Come on a palaeontologist's dig at Emu Bay, South Australia, and discover some weird-looking creatures frozen in stone.

Find out what these fossils tell scientists about life on the ancient sea floor.

There is a demonstration of how a fossil is formed, and you'll be surprised by the types of materials that have been preserved.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What is the name for the the type of scientists who search for and study fossils? What is a fossil and in what ways can they form? Do you know any places in Australia where fossils are found? What kinds of places are these?
  2. 2.What is the most common fossil found called at the Emu Bay site? How long ago did these creatures live? In the clip, a model of an ancient shrimp-like animal is shown. How do the eyes and body shape indicate it was a top- line predator? What did this predator feed on and how do we know this?
  3. 3.In the clip, the reporter demonstrates in a tray how a fossil might form. Draw a diagram to show the fossilisation process of an animal such as a snake or mammal. Draw the model of the ancient prawn or shrimp-like creature shown in the clip and label the features that suited it to its environment.
  4. 4.Find out more about what a paleontologist does. Investigate what Australian organisations employ paleontologists. Where might one might one of them conduct their work? Research some of Australia's other important fossil sites and find out what kinds of fossils are found there. Include Riversleigh, Naracoorte Caves and Port Phillip Bay.



Date of broadcast: 16 Sep 2008


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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