Paleontologist is a scientist who studies the fossil remains of extinct organisms: animals, plants, bacteria, etc.
From the Greek palaios – ancient, ontos – being. The profession suits those interested in biology and history.
Features of the profession
Paleontology is the science of the development of the organic world of the past.
As a scientific discipline, it emerged about 200 years ago, although the fossilized remains of animals attracted the attention of people in ancient times.
Paleontology is a branch of geology (science of the earth), but the object of study it is closer to the biological sciences, as it studies all possible manifestations of life in the geological past.
Different sections of paleontology study:
- paleozoology – ancient remains of vertebrate and invertebrate animals (including insects);
- paleobotany – fossil algae, pollen and spores (paleopalinology), seeds (paleocarpology) of ancient plants, etc;
- paleomycology – fossil remains of fungi;
- micropaleontology – ancient microorganisms;
- paleobiogeography – patterns of geographical distribution of fossil organisms;
- taphonomy – laws of burial processes (formation of locations) of fossil remains of organisms;
- paleoecology – relations of organisms of the past with each other and with the environment;
- etc.
Paleontologist is a very rare profession and somewhat “out of this world”. Many outstanding paleontologists would probably feel quite comfortable in the Devonian swamps or in the coniferous forests of the Carboniferous period.
Unfortunately, humans have not lived long enough to observe evolution directly. Therefore, to understand how evolution occurs and what its causes are, we have to reconstruct it piece by piece, digging it out of the bowels of the earth.
The paleontologist tries to build a complete picture of the world of the past. He is putting together a kind of puzzle, where each fossil element takes its place.
And just as knowledge of history helps us understand contemporary events in politics, knowledge of natural history explains many phenomena in animal and plant life.
