18 finds that allow us to learn about the amazing inhabitants of the planet from bygone eras (19 photos)

Hundreds of thousands, even millions of years ago, our planet was inhabited by completely different creatures.





Evidence from another world—fossils, bones, skeletons, and even mummified remains of ancient animals, which continue to be found in various places around the world—helps scientists learn about their structure, lifestyle, and reconstruct their appearance.

1. Fossilized tadpole



2. Crinoid (sea lily) - a distant relative of sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and starfish, 345 million years old





3. Walliserops trifurcatus - a creepy species of trilobite with a distinctive trident growing from the head, the function of which is not fully understood.



4. Mammoth tooth



5. Stingray fossil



6. Skull Great White Shark



7. Keichousaurus hui, an extinct species of sauropterygian marine reptile that disappeared over 200 million years ago.



8. A fossilized pleurosaur found in Germany. These flying reptiles lived on Earth between 228 and 66 million years ago.



9. A cute fossilized trilobite, estimated to be about 500 million years old.



10. Jaw Tyrannosaurus



11. Anyone can accidentally find a fossil anywhere.



12. Knightia is an extinct genus of bony clupeid fish that lived in freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene



13. Two trilobites, some of the oldest arthropods in history, inhabited the seas 542 million years ago



14. Pleuroceras spinatum - an ammonite - a marine mollusk dating back 190 million years Germany



15. A huge, 16-centimeter-long tooth belonging to the extinct megalodon shark was found in South Carolina.



16. Incredibly well-preserved remains of a nodosaur, found in Canada



17. A praying mantis preserved in amber about 12 million years ago



18. A collection of fossilized great white shark teeth from around the world