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Catalyst: Cambrian fossils on Kangaroo Island

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A fossil embedded in rock
Catalyst: Cambrian fossils on Kangaroo Island

SUBJECTS:  Science

YEARS:  9–10


All fossils provide interesting clues to what life on Earth was once like.

There is something quite unique about the fossils found at Emu Bay on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

Watch this clip to find out why.


Things to think about

  1. 1.What parts of an animal are typically preserved in fossils?Why do you think this may be? What could fossilised faeces (coprolite) that is 520 million years old tell archeologists about how a creature lived in ancient times?
  2. 2.Scientists don't know why the soft tissue of ancient creatures has been preserved so well in the Emu Bay fossils. What is the working hypothesis for why this happened? Dr Chris Nedin shows a model of one of the fossilised creatures ('Anomalocaris') found at Emu Bay. What features of the model suggest to Dr Nedin that this was a top-line predator?
  3. 3.The fosillised faeces of 'Anomalocaris' indicate that it ate trilobites (creatures also from the Cambrian period). Why is the discovery that animals were beginning to eat each other so significant? Consider the concepts of 'natural selection' and 'evolution' in your answer.
  4. 4.Biodiversity is said to be a function of evolution. Create a short news article that explains why the fossils found at Emu Bay provide evidence to support this view. You might like to conduct some research on the concept of 'selection pressures' before you begin.



Date of broadcast: 28 Aug 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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