Key learning points

1. The fossil record is made up of millions of fossils aged from 10,000 to billions of years old.
2. Fossils show that some species have gone extinct.
3. Fossils show that the features of some species have changed (evolved) over time.
4. An example of a series of fossils showing changes from evolutionary ancestors to modern species (e.g. whales).

Keywords

• Fossil - Fossils are the mineralised remains of once-living organisms, or of traces left behind by organisms.

• Fossil record - All the fossils ever found, and their ages, provide a body of evidence called the fossil record.

• Extinct - An extinct species has no living members.

• Evolution - The process in which the characteristics of species change over many generations, sometimes becoming new species.

Common misconception