Field Museum

Tully Monster Mystery

After 50 years of research and mystery, scientists finally pulled together enough evidence to solve the Tully Monster Mystery! 

Mystery Solved! 

 An invertebrate is an animal that does not have a backbone or spine, examples can include: insects, crabs, lobsters, snails, octopuses, and worms. Here are some examples of invertebrates from the Field Museum’s collections!

What is an invertebrate?

A vertebrate is an animal that does have a backbone or spine. Examples can include fish, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Here are some examples of invertebrates from the Field Museum’s collections!

What is a vertebrate?

In this activity, try to label recognizable parts of this creature that for decades puzzled scientists, the Tully Monster! Can you identify: The body? The eye-bar? The proboscis (long trunk)? The fins? Try your hand and use the key at the end of the slideshow in the next activity to check your answers!  

Tully Monster ID 

Here are some of the fossils in the Field Museum collections that scientists used to study the Tully Monster. Can you think about why it might be hard to reconstruct what a creature looked like from its fossils?

Tully Monster Fossils

Here are the parts of the Tully Monster in a labelled diagram. Were you able to find these parts in the last exercise? What made it difficult to identify these body parts?

Tully Monster ID Key

This creature puzzled scientists for decades! Is it a vertebrate? Is it an invertebrate? Work your way through this kit to find out!

To give students additional opportunity to explore Mazon Creek fossils, consider renting the “300 Million Years Ago in Illinois” Experience Box from the 

Life Science

Science

Silurian Cephalopods possessed long, hard, segmented shells like the one shown in this fossil. They also possessed soft bodies with tentacles. These softer parts of their bodies were seldom, if not never, been preserved in fossils.

Fossil Formation

Image of a skin impression fossil from the dinosaur Edmontosaurus.

Fossil Excavation

Observe these silurian creatures' fossils and the ways artists have imagined them. What do you notice about the animal structures pictured in these fossil images and their artist renderings? Are these fossils of complete organisms, or partial organisms? How do you think scientists and artists are able to reconstruct what an organism looked like when only partial fossil evidence is available?

Silurian Fossils and Artists Illustrations

The rock cycle illustrates the relationship between different types of rocks. Igneous or sedimentary rocks can turn into metamorphic rocks when heat and pressure are applied to these rocks. Igneous rocks are formed when melted rock cools. Sedimentary rock forms when small deposits of rock or bone are compacted into one mass, usually in underwater conditions.  

Rock Layers

In the last activity, you learned about cast, mold, trace and imprint fossils. Use this annotation activity to draw a diagram or graphic organizer explaining what you know about these different types of fossils and how they form. 

Draw Fossil Types

Learn about how paleontologists excavate, preserve, and use fossils to study Earth's past life!

All About Fossils

bryozoan1.jpg

Bryozoans are colonial animals that live in both freshwater and seawater. A colony is composed of hundreds of very tiny individuals, each of which has a special organ that filters small food particles from the water. Bryozoan colonies are attached to the seafloor or to other organisms.  Fan and bush-shaped colonies like this bryozoan may have functioned as bafflers.

Bryozoan - Fenestella lonsdale

Description

Object Information

Appears In

Tully Monster Mystery

All About Fossils