SONG: 'What It Was' - Fossils and Dinosaurs - Horrible Science

Are those just big lumps of weirdly-shaped rocks in the ground? No, they're not… (well, kind of?), they’re FOSSILS! Sing along to this silly Horrible Science song all about how fossils are made and how they helped us discover that dinosaurs existed. Scroll down to see the lyrics 🎶

Fossils aren't actually bones we find in the ground... they are stone casts of bones from millions of years ago, which are made when water seeps into the ground. The sediment (the rocks and minerals and stuff) replaces everything the bone is made of to create a cast. Pretty neat, huh?

Without fossils it would have been pretty hard for us to figure out that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago, because that’s wayyyy before the first humans lived on Earth, (yes, even including your teachers!).

Anyone can find dinosaur fossils, even kids on beaches have found them by accident (lucky!).

🦖 DINOSAURS: Check the best dinosaur quizzes and facts with CBBC!

(MAN)

What do fossils show?

Well, many million years ago,

Strange creatures lived in the sea and on land,

And now in rocks they are found,

But it is rare,

To find skin or feathers there,

We just see the shape of their bones,

And work out what animals roamed.

Oh!

When they died,

And decomposed,

They left behind remains of their bones,

Sunk below,

Mud and sand,

And sediment began to compact,

Bones dissolve,

By water in rocks,

And minerals, they filled in the gaps,

Forming stones,

We dig up.

The fossils they show was what it was,

What it was,

What it was,

It shows us what it was.

Many fossils to find,

To tell us of long ago times,

Like a T-rex’s size,

Some dinos have feather coats,

Huge dragon flies,

Brontomerus had massive thighs,

These rocks can teach us what is true,

From scales to fossilised poo.

Oh,

How below,

Where to look,

All the type of fossils are lifted up,

How’d we know,

It’s not just stone?

Because fossils stick lightly on my tongue,

On my tongue,

On my tongue,

Yeah, don’t try this at home.

Dinosaurs,

Sea creatures,

It shows what it was.

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