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Article: Paleontology
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- Animal Sciences
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Paleontology
Paleontology is the study of the history of life as revealed in the
fossil record
. Fossils are remnants or traces of living organisms from past geologic ages that have become preserved in Earth's crust. They include not only the skeletons or shells of deceased creatures, but also burrows, footprints, eggs, and fossilized feces (excrement), known as coprolites.
Paleontology draws extensively from both biology and geology. Some subdisciplines of paleontology are defined by the types of organisms that are studied. Examples are
vertebrate
paleontology,
invertebrate
paleontology, paleobotany, and micropaleontology (study of single-celled fossils). Paleoecologists study ...