Relatively, a new discipline, Paleontology is the study of ancient Life forms that have inhabited our earth, and of the fossils that remain behind. Paleontologists, those scientists who study paleontology, are working to understand the types of plants and animals that have lived here, from the begirting of life on earth until the present. They study ancient ferns and fish, dinosaurs and bear-dogs, climates and continents. Thy search for fossils in rocks from all over the earth, discovering clues that may help them recreate what life was like in the ancient past. Fossils are evidence of past life that can still be found today. Most often, fossils are remains that have mineralised, i.e., turned to stone. They can be the bones or teeth of saber-tooth tiger, ancient trilobite shells, imprint of a fern frond, the footprint of a dinosaur, or petrified wood. By studying these fossils paleontologists learn about long-extinct organisms that inhabited the earth in ancient times, and about how they adapted to the environment they lived in and the world around them. This work is a milestone in the discipline, which, being beneficial for scholars and students alike, serves a great purpose.
