Fossil Hotspot
Burgess Shale
Learning Goals
Background: What Is the Burgess Shale?
Over 500 million years ago, a reef in a warm Cambrian sea was home to strange and wonderful life. When underwater mudslides suddenly buried these creatures, even their soft parts (like tentacles, eyes, and stomachs) were preserved.
Today, this rare fossil site is called the Burgess Shale, and it's located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia.
Most fossils we find are from animals with hard shells or bones, but in the Burgess Shale, we find soft-bodied creatures, too. That means we get a much clearer picture of what Cambrian life was really like
Map Work
Show a map of North America or the World
- Locate the Burgess Shale and understand its importance.
- Discover why the fossils found there are so special.
- Connect fossil formation to soft-bodied preservation.
- Burgess Shale – A famous fossil site in the Canadian Rockies from the Cambrian Period.
- Preservation – How well something from the past is kept or protected.
- Soft-bodied – Animals without bones or shells.
- Sediment – Small particles that can cover and protect dead organisms.
Background: What Is the Burgess Shale?
Over 500 million years ago, a reef in a warm Cambrian sea was home to strange and wonderful life. When underwater mudslides suddenly buried these creatures, even their soft parts (like tentacles, eyes, and stomachs) were preserved.
Today, this rare fossil site is called the Burgess Shale, and it's located in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia.
Most fossils we find are from animals with hard shells or bones, but in the Burgess Shale, we find soft-bodied creatures, too. That means we get a much clearer picture of what Cambrian life was really like
Map Work
Show a map of North America or the World
- Find Canada → British Columbia → Rocky Mountains → Burgess Shale (Yoho National Park).
- Why might it be rare to find soft-bodied fossils?
- What do you think paleontologists felt when they found these?
- What makes the Burgess Shale different from other fossil sites?
- How does it change what we know about early life?
- Why are soft-bodied fossils so exciting?