What The Fossils of Makoce Sica (Badlands) Tell Us
Overview
Lesson Name: Badlands Fossils Through Time
Grade Bands: 3-12
Keywords: Natural Selection, Adaptation, Biogeology, fossils, habitats, geologic time scale, OSEU
Time: 1- 8 periods. Note: the lesson below uses a jigsaw method to compress the activities into fewer periods for older students. For a more robust experience, the entire class can complete each jigsaw section over several days to allow for a deeper, iterative discussion of changes in animals and climate over time.
Background
Badlands National Park is a beautiful location known for its stunning geology. The park's geology covers two distinct periods: the late Cretaceous period, about 65 to 75 million years ago, and a stretch of the Paleocene period ranging from the Eocene epoch starting around 39 million years ago to the Oligocene epoch, ending in the Badlands approximately 23 million years ago. Each of these periods is characterized by very different geology. During the Cretaceous, a warm, shallow ocean was expanding and contracting over North America's center. During the Paleogene (the Eocene-Oligocene epochs), the world was slowly cooling, and the environment in the Badlands changed from a hot forest to a cooler savannah. This cooling changed the plant communities and, by extension also, the animal communities.
Different plants and animals characterize each period. In this lesson, we have chosen to focus on four specific prehistoric animals, each of which tells us something significant about the history of the Badlands. We start with a contemporary animal, the buffalo (bison), as an entry point into the lesson and work backward through time.
Oreodont. The oreodont is found through almost all the layers of the park’s geology except for the Cretaceous layers. This discovery shows us that some animals could survive the changes that were occurring… until they couldn’t.
Brontothere and alligator. These fossils are found in a specific range of the Eocene-Oligocene, contrasting with the oreodont found throughout that period. In addition, the alligator helps us understand that Badlands was a very different environment 35 million years ago.
Mosasaur. The mosasaur, a marine mammal with flippers, helps us understand that the Badlands was once covered in water during the Cretaceous period.
Another essential idea presented throughout the lesson is that fossil teeth tell us about the animals. We have profiled two herbivores (oreodont and brontothere) and two carnivores (alligator and mosasaur).
In this lesson, students will create a timeline of animals found in the Badlands from the present to 75 million years ago. They use notice and wonders to engage with phenomena and will read articles to answer some of their wonders. Students will understand that fossil teeth provide essential information about animals. They will understand that the climate of the Badlands has changed over time, and the animals that lived there have changed in response. Students will apply their understanding by drawing dioramas and writing an explanation of the scene and information about the animals’ teeth. Students will analyze the timeline to understand the presence of animals in the Badlands. Students will understand that Lakota people knew about fossils and had their own stories about them.
Learning Goal (What students need to learn)
Animals adapt and change based on their environment, or they die.
Fossils provide us with information about past plants and animals and the environment.
Plants and animals change in response to the environment changing.
When the environment changes, some animals die, some survive, and some thrive.
Native Americans have different views about fossils than what we are taught in Western science.
Native Americans know and understand ancient animals that predate the “discoveries” of non-Native scientists.
Success Criteria (How students know they’ve reached the learning goal)
I can create a timeline that shows evidence of animals long ago.
I can compare and contrast animal traits in the present with traits from animals in the past.
I can explain how animal traits describe the environment in which the animal lives.
I share my ideas about Native American perspectives on fossils and science.
Materials and Media
Worksheets (Grades 3-5).
Buffalo & oreodont student diorama
Brontothere and alligator student diorama
Mosasaur student diorama
Articles:
Lesson Outline
Preparation
Create a sketchfab account.
Prepare the timeline.
Prepare the articles for students to read (print or post)
Prepare the slide decks.
Prepare student diorama worksheets (Grades 3-5)
Engage
Show students the skulls of the bison and oreodont individually on Sketchfab. For each skull ask them students what do they notice? What do they wonder?
Show the skulls side by side using the slide deck. Have students compare them. What are the similarities? What are the differences?
Return to the sketchfab images and have students compare the teeth of the two skulls. Tell students that scientists can tell what fossil animals ate by the shape of their teeth.
Discuss what bison eat. Have students read the appropriate age level article and discuss what oreodonts ate. (Vegetation)
Explore
Tell students that in addition to animal fossils, paleontologists use fossils of plants to understand the habitat and climate conditions of the past. This information is used by artists to create dioramas.
Tell students they are going to study dioramas of Badlands animals, examine photos of their skulls and teeth, and read articles to learn more about Badland animals.
Have students work in pairs or small groups. Assign each group a fossil to study. Alternatively, have students work in small groups where 1-2 people in the small group work each work on one of the following. Prompt them to study the teeth.
Oreodont
Slide Deck (habitat and skull slides)
Articles: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-12
Brontothere and alligator
Slide Deck: Brontothere and Alligator habitat
Slide Deck: Brontothere and Alligator skulls
Articles: Grade 3-5, Grades 6-12
Mosasaur
Slide Deck: Mosasaur habitat and skull
Articles: Grades 3-5, Grade 6-12
Tell students they need to make a claim about the animals' habitats using the Park's dioramas, fossils, and articles as evidence. Older students could also use the Geology of Badlands National Park Flip Chart. Possible claims: a description of the habitat (biome type, vegetation) or how the habitat compares with habitats of different times.
Younger to middle grade students can make a diorama that includes their fossil(s).
Middle to upper grade students can create a slide or poster.
Explain
As a class, review the fossils, habitats and food preference.
Oreodonts - warm humid forests to cooler open savannah/scrublands. Plant eaters.
Brontotheres and Alligators - warm humid forests. The brontothere was a plant eater, the alligator a meat eater.
Mosasaur - Aquatic environment caused by the Western Interior Seaway. Meat eater.
Tell students you are going to place the fossils along the timeline. Review the timeline noting that this period covers the geology found in the Badlands. The geologic timeline of the Earth is much longer.
Start with the bison, a contemporary animal. Mark about ¼ inch on the right side of the box labeled 1 on the page Today to 5 million years ago. This represents the approximate amount of time bison have been on the grasslands. See picture below.
Oreodonts - mark off 26.8 million to 38 million years ago on the timeline.
Brontotheres and alligators - mark off 33 to 38 million years ago.
Note that alligators are still found today in places like Louisiana and Florida which are humid and have lush vegetation.
Note that oreodonts, brontotheres and alligators overlap. Have students develop a possible explanation based as to why the oreodonts did not die out (they were able to adapt to changing conditions.)
Mosasaur - mark off 69 million years ago to 74.7 million years ago (round up to 75 for younger students). Mosasaurs differ from the other animals studied in this unit in that they are an aquatic animal. Their fossils show adaptations to living in water. When mosasaurs lived, the Badlands was covered in ocean. Essentially, the Gulf of Mexico extended all the way up through the US into Canada.
Apply
Have students apply their knowledge about the fossils' habitats to describe the sequence of fossils found in the Badlands as represented on the timeline. An example of the sequence description: The Western Interior Seaway created a marine environment where mosasaurs lived. The Western Interior Seaway disappeared and with it the mosasaurs. The Earth changed slowly. Eventually what used to be covered in ocean became a warm, lush forest where alligators, brontotheres and oreodonts lived. The climate began to slowly cool. As it cooled, the brontotheres went extinct and alligators died out locally although we can still find them in warm, lush forests today. Oreodonts were able to adapt to the changes in climate and continued living in the Badlands area but eventually they died out as well, most likely due to the Ice Age.
Have students engage with the OSEU Integration resources.
Assess and Reflect
Watch Prehistoric Road Trip: Meet the Mammals. Have students study the other mammals.
OSEU Integration
Watch Prehistoric Road Trip: Examining the History of Fossil Collection from Native American Lands. Discuss the practice of collecting fossils and ownership of fossils.
Read Lakota Connections to Fossils, a summary of two Lakota stories involving fossils.
Additional Resources
Resources from Badlands National Park
3D Fossils (BADL) Dimensional Fossils of Badlands National Park and South Dakota to view. Some available for download to print. Includes a list of websites with 3D models.3D (Excel sheet). Created by Ed Welsh, Education Specialist, Badlands National Park, February 2023. Public domain resource.
Fauna Confirmed from Badlands Area in South Dakota (Non-mammalian) A list of the non-mammalian fossils found in Badlands National Park and surrounding areas. Created by Ed Welsh, Education Specialist, Badlands National Park, February 2023. Public domain resource.
Fauna Confirmed from Badlands Area in South Dakota (Mammalian). A list of the mammalian fossils found in Badlands National Park and surrounding areas. Created by Ed Welsh, Education Specialist, Badlands National Park, February 2023. Public domain resource.
Show the bison's geologic time range by coloring in a quarter of an inch of the box numbered 1.