Question
Read the passage below.What eats dead animals and so prevents fossilisation? Enter your answer Fossils can provide evidence for the existence of animals and plants that have long become extinct. However, the very earliest forms of life are not very well represented in the fossil record. They were soft-bodiec I plants and invertebrates which did not fossilise easily.. In addition, geological activity has also destroyed many of the earliest fossils that did form. As animals evolved to develop hard skeletons, fossilisation occurred more often, because hard body parts form fossils more easily. Dead animals and plants very rarely form fossils . The best conditions for fossilisation are: Quick burial in moist sediments or volcanic ash , so that scavengers cannot consume them Unchanging temperature conditions Ground water that is heavily mineralised, so that minerals can replace some body parts Calm conditions, so that remains are not broken up (e.g. by currents in water)
Answer
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Eleri
Master · Tutor for 5 years
Answer
Scavengers
Explanation
The passage is about fossils and the process of fossilization. Fossils provide evidence for the existence of animals and plants that have long become extinct. Fossilisation can occur when conditions are just perfect to keep the remains from being consumed by scavengers or broken up by geological forces. Scavengers are organisms that eat dead animals, which if not consumed by these scavengers, their excess repertoire would in large part contribute to fossilisation. Hence, according to the text, to prevent dead animals from being eaten by scavengers, these dead animals or plants need a quick burial in moist sediments or volcanic ash. Consequently, from the context provided, it can be inferred that the entity which prevents fossilisation by consuming dead animals are scavengers. Scavengers could range from insects, worms, birds to larger animals depending on the size and location of the dead organism.