A 47 million year old fossil, known as the “Missing Link”, connecting the human skeletal structure to early mammals. This fossil is 20 times older than any fossil found connected to human evolution. Ida is special indeed, she is classified as an early Prosimian (Lemurs), and has human characteristics like forward facing eyes and an opposable thumb.

Rare group of sea-based scorpions Eurypterus remipes Fiddler Green Formation Silurian (400 mya) Herkimer County, NY Lang Quarry

Striped surprise: The banded fossil of a feather from Brazil. Microscopic details in fossilised plumage could reveal the colour of extinct birds, or even feathered dinosaurs.

Fossil Wasp from Eocene lake beds at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.

The earliest fossil bat is a remarkably well preserved animal from early Eocene rocks in the Green River formation of Wyoming. Although bats are one of the most diverse groups of mammals today, they are one of the least common groups in the fossil record. Bats have small, light skeletons that do not preserve well and we have little information on the early evolution of this group.

(Very rare to have soft tissue preservation!) Cretaceous (100 mya) Sublithographic Limestone, Hajoula, Lebanon

Fossil footprints of dinosaur in a gem rock museum in Creetown, Scotland

Complete skeleton of a rhino calf embedded in volcanic ash. About 12 million years ago, a volcano in modern-day Idaho spread a blanket of ash over large parts of what is now the midwestern United States.

Discosauriscus with Woltzia "Amphibian with plant" Permian Czech Republic

The Green River Formation in south western Wyoming seems to contain a treasure trove of these ancient fossils from many different geological times.