Deep within the rocks lie the remnants of a different world, a world full of sinister creatures like terrifying megalodon sharks, creepy-crawly trilobites, and giant dinosaurs. That world is now long gone, but the ground we stand on still holds their remains and if we look closely, we might just uncover some of them right beneath our feet. Some of the incredibly well-preserved fossils we’ll show you below were such unexpected and fortunate finds, take a look at them and learn more about these mysterious creatures of the past.
1. A selection of fossilized great white shark teeth from all over the world
2. A praying mantis cast in amber about 12 million years ago
3. Huge 16 cm (6.34″) shark tooth belonging to the extinct megalodon shark found in South Carolina. Just imagine the size of this fearsome animal!
4. A Pleuroceras fossil found in Germany estimated to be 190 million years old. These animals belong to the class of Ammonites, which are extinct marine mollusks
5. Two trilobites, which are some of the earliest arthropods in history that inhabited the seas 542 million years ago
6. Knightia, a prehistoric fish that once lived throughout North America and Asia. This specific fish apparently died in the middle of a poop, which also got fossilized
7. “My 7-year-old daughter dropped a rock and found this” – proof that fossils can be found anywhere
8. A Tyrannosaurus Rex jawbone available to see and touch at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
9. A fossilized tadpole with legs
10. A very cute-looking trilobite fossil that’s estimated to be about 500 million years old!
11. A fossilized Pleurosaur found in Germany. These were flying reptiles that lived on Earth between 228 and 66 million years ago
12. Keichousaurus hui, an extinct species of marine reptile that has gone extinct over 200 million years ago
13. Partial skull of a great white shark that includes 222 teeth and 45 vertebrae
14. A cool stingray fossil
15. The “youngest” of the specimens on this list – a mammoth’s tooth found on Essex beach in England that’s estimated to be 10,000-20,000 years old
16. Walliserops trifurcatus, a very creepy species of trilobite with a characteristic trident appendage growing out of their heads, the function of which is poorly understood
17. This is an extremely well-preserved 345 million-year-old fossil of a Crinoid, an archaic sea animal that’s a distant relative of sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and starfish
