Why did dinosaur bones not decompose?

Its bones are protected from rotting by layers of sediment. As its body decomposes all the fleshy parts wear away and only the hard parts, like bones, teeth, and horns, are left behind. Over millions of years, water in the nearby rocks surrounds these hard parts, and minerals in the water replace them, bit by bit.
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Why do fossils not decompose?

Once remains are buried under sediment, their decomposition slows down due to a lack of oxygen, giving enough time for fossilisation to occur.
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Do dinosaur bones last longer than human bones?

A quick calculation shows that dinosaurs lived 900 times longer than humans have been on Earth. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that dinosaur fossils are more common than humans'.
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Why do bones last forever?

Compared to other tissues, bones can escape decomposition for two reasons – collagen and its association with calcium. Collagen is a very durable and stable protein due to its structure and chemical composition. Only certain enzymes can break down collagen.
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Can human bones become fossils?

Birds, for example, are very, very rare in the fossil record, because avian bones are incredibly fragile, and are unlikely to remain intact long enough to become fossils. On the other hand, it turns out humans are actually fairly well-suited to becoming fossils.
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How scientists solved this dinosaur puzzle



Will there be human fossils?

“We and our animals are just going to totally flood the mammalian fossil record,” says Roy Plotnick, a paleontologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the study. “The future fossil record of today will include lots of human skeletons all lined up in a row.”
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What does death smell like?

A decomposing body will typically have a smell of rotting meat with fruity undertones.
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What happens to a body after 1 year in a coffin?

For the most part, however, if a non-embalmed body was viewed one year after burial, it would already be significantly decomposed, the soft tissues gone, and only the bones and some other body parts remaining.
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Which part of human body does not burn in fire?

Quite often the peripheral bones of the hands and feet will not be burned to such a high intensity as those at the centre of the body, where most fat is located.
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Why didn't humans and dinosaurs live on Earth at the same time?

No! After the dinosaurs died out, nearly 65 million years passed before people appeared on Earth.
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Are there still undiscovered dinosaurs?

Just about every two weeks, we meet a new dinosaur species. Some come fresh from the desert. Others have been hiding in museum collections for decades, or were misidentified as different species.
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Has a full dinosaur been found?

They turn out to be part of the largest-ever Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, a 65 million-year-old specimen dubbed Sue, after its discoverer. Amazingly, Sue's skeleton was over 90 percent complete, and the bones were extremely well-preserved.
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Do human bones decompose?

You may be wondering: will a skeleton also decompose? The answer is yes. If animals do not destroy or move the bones, skeletons normally take around 20 years to dissolve in fertile soil. However, in sand or neutral soil, skeletons can remain intact for hundreds of years.
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How long does it take for bones to turn to dust?

Eventually these too will disintegrate, and after 80 years in that coffin, your bones will crack as the soft collagen inside them deteriorates, leaving nothing but the brittle mineral frame behind. But even that shell won't last forever. A century in, the last of your bones will have collapsed into dust.
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How long does bone take to decompose?

After skeletonization, if scavenging animals do not destroy or remove the bones, acids in many fertile soils take about 20 years to completely dissolve the skeleton of mid- to large-size mammals, such as humans, leaving no trace of the organism.
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Why are people buried 6 feet under?

Medical schools in the early 1800s bought cadavers for anatomical study and dissection, and some people supplied the demand by digging up fresh corpses. Gravesites reaching six feet helped prevent farmers from accidentally plowing up bodies.
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Do bodies explode in coffins?

Once a body is placed in a sealed casket, the gases from decomposing cannot escape anymore. As the pressure increases, the casket becomes like an overblown balloon. However, it's not going to explode like one. But it can spill out unpleasant fluids and gasses inside the casket.
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Why do they cover the legs in a casket?

They cover the legs in a casket because the deceased is not wearing shoes in many cases due to the difficulty of putting them on stiff feet. Also, funeral directors may recommend it to save money, for religious reasons, in the event of trauma, for easier transportation, or with tall bodies.
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When someone is dying what do they see?

Visions and Hallucinations

Visual or auditory hallucinations are often part of the dying experience. The appearance of family members or loved ones who have died is common. These visions are considered normal. The dying may turn their focus to “another world” and talk to people or see things that others do not see.
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What is the most smelly thing in the world?

What is the smelliest substance in existence? Chemists tend to agree that a class of molecules known as 'mercaptans' are the smelliest compounds in existence. You might have encountered foul-smelling mercaptans in a skunk's spray, rotting meat, bad breath, swamp water, and even some cheeses.
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What is the greatest smell in the world?

Well, a team of scientists from the University of Oxford think they've worked out the best and worst smells in the world. According to their study, the best smell is vanilla and the worst smell is sweaty feet.
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Which human species lived at the same time?

Two million years ago, three different early humans—Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and the earliest-known Homo erectus—appear to have lived at the same time in the same place, near the Drimolen Paleocave System.
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Can humans be petrified?

Petrified wood typifies this process, but all organisms, from bacteria to vertebrates, can become petrified (although harder, more durable matter such as bone, beaks, and shells survive the process better than softer remains such as muscle tissue, feathers, or skin).
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Are fossils still being formed on Earth?

Are fossils still being made today? Are fossils still being made today? Yes, the process of fossilisation is a continuous one. If the conditions are right, a dead plant or animal will be preserved in the rocks of the future, just as they were in the past.
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