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Above all, paleontologists are passionate about what they do. It takes a lot of study and years of effort to take on this profession. It is wonderful, but complex in many ways, and it is generally not the best option for those who want to make a lot of money.

In general, paleontologists must have a degree in Biology or Geology and continue their studies with a master's or doctorate. Job positions are not very varied and are generally limited to academic life as a university professor and/or researcher, consultant and curator of museum collections. It is also common for paleontologists to be hired by oil companies – as long as the professional's specialization is Micropaleontology and/or Biostratigraphy – and by some government agencies, such as the DNPM (National Department of Mineral Production). Many paleontologists also work in scientific dissemination and some in natural parks or protected areas to promote Geodiversity.

A living fossil is an organism that has survived for a considerable time without undergoing significant morphological changes, having survived to the present day.

Examples of living fossils are Latimeria, or coelacanth, a fish unchanged in general external appearance and in details of anatomy since the Cretaceous period (about 100 million years ago); Sphenodon, or tuatara, a reptile that has survived since the Jurassic (more than 150 million years ago); both were contemporaries of the dinosaurs.

But there are even older living fossils, such as Limulus, a marine arthropod related to scorpions that inhabits the Gulf of Mexico, existing since the Permian (about 250 million years ago) or Lingula, a brachiopod, similar to a marine mollusk, existing since the Cambrian (more than 500 million years ago!).

Some conifers, including Araucaria, so common in southern Brazil, have existed since the Triassic (more than 200 million years).

Fossils can be made up of either the original remains of organisms or minerals that take their place, or a combination of both.

In most cases, organic matter degrades and is replaced by external minerals, but if the organism has a skeleton formed by minerals (such as a shell or bones), this skeleton can be preserved.

In some exceptional cases, soft tissues are preserved, as in the case of insects and arachnids preserved in amber or mammoths frozen in Siberia.

The fossilization of an organism is a rare event in nature. The vast majority of organisms degrade and leave no trace.

For an organism to preserve itself, it must die under conditions that facilitate its conservation.

Environments with little oxygen, and therefore without degradation and with a lot of sedimentation, are the best for fossilizing an organism. Some of these environments are: swamps, deep seabed, lake bottoms, etc.

Catastrophic deaths also significantly increase the chances of fossilization, as they are rapid and affect several individuals at once, for example, mudslides.

There are two types of dating, absolute and relative.

Absolute dating consists of analyzing proportions of radioactive elements whose half-life is known, present in the rocks where the fossils are found.

Carbon 14, widely used in Archaeology, has an average lifespan of only 6,000 years, providing reliable measurements up to around 100,000 years, and is therefore little used in Paleontology.

Paleontologists use isotopes of potassium, argon, rubidium and strontium among others, as these have a half-life of several million years.

However, the most commonly used dates are relative, as they are more practical and viable.

These consist of relating the different layers of sediments to each other (Stratigraphy), and relating the fossils to those from other locations previously dated using absolute methods (Biostratigraphy).