Next time you visit the Museum, come here and watch as paleontologists and trained
volunteers extract fossils from rock, set up fossil casts and molds, and prepare
microscopic fossils for study. Talk with scientists who work with fossils of
all kinds: ancient leaves and bones, shells and wood, burrows and footprints.
Learn how scientists use fossils to learn about the evolution of life and past
climates on Earth. Here, Museum paleobotanist Scott Wing extracts 50-million-year-old
fossilized leaves from rock found in Wyoming. At that time, Wyoming's climate
was sub-tropical. Alligators crawled through swamps and palm fronds rattled
in the wind.
For information about volunteering in the Fossil Lab call (202) 357-2700 [voice]
or (202) 357-1729 [TTY].
