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A2. The soft parts of an animal are least likely to survive, for these will be degraded by bacterial and insect action, if not by larger scavengers. If an animal dies on the land surface the chances of fossilization are minute.

Good preservation of a fossil depends greatly on the environment in which the animal dies. If it is a very fine-grained silt, the probability of preservation is good, particularly of fine detail. The environment is likely to be anaerobic, and even the body's internal bacterial flora may be unable to survive in an anoxic environment.

One of the remarkable preservations was the Archaeopteryx fossil, on which even the feather detail may be seen. Discovered quite soon after Darwin had launched his Origin of Species.

Unusual preservation localities include swamps, and the remarkable La Brea tar pits. Another unusual fossil preserve is that of insects and Spiders preserved in amber originally a gum exudate from trees.

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14y ago

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