ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Biochronology

Biochronology is like a puzzle that helps scientists figure out how old things are by using clues from the past.

Imagine you have a box of puzzle pieces, but there is no picture on the box to help you know what the puzzle looks like. You have to put the pieces together to make the picture.

In biochronology, scientists use the puzzle pieces of animal fossils to figure out how old things are. The animals that lived a long time ago are different from the animals that live today. Scientists look at the bones and teeth of these animals to figure out how long ago they lived.

They start by looking at the oldest fossils at the bottom layer of the ground. These are the oldest puzzle pieces. As they move up through the layers, they find newer puzzle pieces. By putting these pieces together, they can figure out the timeline of when each animal lived.

This helps scientists understand important things like how animals have evolved over time and how the earth has changed. It’s like looking at a big timeline of history using puzzle pieces from the past.