Fossil Facts
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The Largest Ammonites are the Pachydiscus seppenradensis which sometimes reach a diameter of 6 ½ feet (2 meters). They are found in Germany from the Cretaceous Period.- The largest nautiloid on record is called Endoceras. It is from the Ordovician Period and has been measured up to 13 feet (3 ½ meters) long.
- Isotelus rex is the largest known species of trilobite. It was found in northern Manitoba. This humongous arthropod measures about 28 inches (72 centimeters) long. Isotelus rex is now on display at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg.
- The evidence of microscopic life forms has been detected as old as 3,700 to 3,800 million years ago. This evidence was found in Isua greenstone in Greenland. There have been claims of evidence dating back as far as 3,850 million years ago although not universally accepted.
- The oldest fish fossils on record were found at Chengjiang, in Yunnan Province, China. Two species have been found dating from about 530 million years ago. Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, and Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa, are recent finds.
- Sauroposeidon may have been the largest dinosaur ever to walk the face of the earth. Scientists believe this gigantic dinosaur would have stood 60 feet tall (18 meters) and weighed 60 tonnes!
- Megalodon is estimated to have been 40 to 50 feet long and weigh 48 tons, the largest shark.
- The Burgess Shale formation in Canada was long regarded as the oldest fossil bed. It was formed about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian period where many fossils during that period have been found there. The Chengjiang Deposits of China which are thought to be even older than Canada's Burgess Shale, have fossils to be about 15 million years older than the Burgess Shale formation.