This category is for taxa that have been found in completeness with no missing parts of the hard anatomy. Because the process of fossilization is so rare, it can be difficult for sediment to completely preserve a specimen without erosion, scavenging, or incomplete preservation. This makes complete fossils very valuable to science, as it leave no room for speculation for the full skeleton's morphology.
Small animals are most likely to be complete during fossilization, such as insects, crustaceans, fish, and lizards, but the right conditions do allow for large species to be preserved as well. Some of the most well known fossil specimens found in near or full completeness include the Dueling Dinosaurs (a shared preservation of a juvenile Tyrannosaurus and adult Triceratops), the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx, and Sophie the Stegosaurus, along with several mammoths and other Cenozoic species found in the La Brea Tar Pits.
All items (34)
