ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

2016 in paleontology

Paleontology is like a big treasure hunt where scientists try to find fossils of ancient animals and try to learn more about what they looked like, how they lived, and how they evolved over time.

In 2016, paleontologists found some really cool things! They found a new species of dinosaur called the "Gualicho shinyae" that had tiny arms and was kind of like a T-Rex. They also found some really old creatures called "Ediacaran organisms" that lived over 500 million years ago and were some of the first complex organisms on Earth.

They also found the oldest known fossil of a "gomphothere," which is a kind of ancient relative of elephants. It lived over 4.5 million years ago and was about the size of a modern elephant.

Scientists also discovered the oldest known fossil evidence of "fungi" which are like molds and mushrooms. They found these fossils in rocks that were over 800 million years old!

Overall, 2016 was a really exciting year for paleontologists and the discoveries they made helped us learn more about the weird and wonderful creatures that used to roam the Earth a long, long time ago.