Fossil are the nature preserved remains, moulds, and traces of dead organism include teeth, skeletons and shells, skin impression, food print, and the like. Even the dropping is another form of fossil (trace fossil).

A fossil was formed of fossilization which the original composition of the organism (for example, calcium phosphate inside the bone) was replaced by the mineral covered around (such as silicon or iron). Fossilization, therefore, not only shows the life of the organism of its time and also the buried inorganic environment, the climate and biological conditions. Fossil opens a window for us to take a glance of the biological world and it is also the criteria to divide and compare the different geochronology. Fossil does provide the most significant evidence for the studies on life!|s origin and evolution.

Teeth	Bone	Fossil Faeces
Searrated fish NMNS003560-F003702	Confuciusomis Sanctus NMNS003052 -F002735	Fossil Dinosaur Faeces NMNS003398-F002772

The most striking characteristic of the vertebrate animals is the spinal column in the back made of the vertebrae to support the body. Besides the major function to connect the body, spinal column consists of vertebrae of neck, chest, waist, sacral, and caudal in different body position. In addition, the tubular central nerve cord of the vertebrate animals is in the back side and the digestive system and circulation system are at the abdominal side. Under the support and protection of spinal column, the nerve system is able to transmit the information effectively and the digestive system and circulation system are able to function properly. Fish, frogs, lizards, snakes, birds and mammals including humans are vertebrate animals.

Animal with two pairs of canine teeth NMNS002811-F029985
Caudal vertebra of Champsosauridae NMNS002811-F029989	Frog skeleton NMNS003400-F003505	Asian rock NMNS002849-F029996	Skull of Sabretooth Tiger

There is a huge variety of organisms; thus, we need to categorize them according to the similarities and name them systematically. There are seven major classifications of organisms, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species as well as the supplemental groups of subphylum, subspecies, infraclass, and so on.

Species is the smallest unit of classification; similar species are identified as a genus and similar genera are identified as a family. On this account, the organisms of similar phylum belong to a kingdom. Organisms or prehistoric organisms are named according to the species classification in Latin words or forms regulated internationally. The combination of a generic name and a trivial (species) name comprises the full scientific (Latin) name of an organism, binomen, and the first letter needs to be capitalized. Generic name comes first before species name. Followings is the example of Felis domesticus in seven classifications:

Animalia

 Chordata

  Vertebrata

   Mammalia

    Carnivora

     Felidae

      Felis

       Felis domesticus

Vertebrate animals belong to Vertebrata and the classifications are as the following table. The study of prehistoric or extinct vertebrate animals is called Vertebrate Paleontology.

Subphylum	Superclass	Class	Example
Vertebrata	Pisces	Agnatha	Aganthus vertebrate animal: Bothriolepis canadensis
		Placodermi	Gnathostomata
		Acanthodii	Acanthodii shark
		Chondrichthyes	Shark:Heliobatis radians
		Osteichthyes	Osteichthyes:Wedge-shaped Lepisosteiformes
	Tetrapoda	Amphibia	Amphibia:Euhelopus
		Reptilia
		Aves	Aves:Confuciusornis sanctus
		Mammalia	Mammal:Skull of Chilotherium

The digital filing of 200 symbolic piece fossils of vertebrate animals is scheduled to be completed in two years according to the classification of organisms. In Year 1 (2001), the focus is the filing of Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Amphibia, Reptilia and Aves; in Year 2 (2002) it is Mammalia. In addition, the museum presents the duplicate sample of standing dinosaurs to the visitors in both images and explicit words. The comparison and analysis of sample and anatomical structure is one of the major methods of prehistorical vertebrate study. Thus, we will also work on the image data of the Skeleton sample to provide the public a comprehensive data for comparison and analysis.

The presentation of this project has the both exhibition and educational functions. The diversity of organism and the interaction between the organism and environment is presented under each theme and it will help the visitors understand the profoundness and evolution of life. The themes include:

1. Biological classification:
   

   Each piece of the specimens of Primates, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Cetacea, Rodeutia and Proboscidae of Mammalia is shown in the form of digital photos as well as the illustration given about the characteristics, and relevant literatures.

2. Geological time:
   

   The exhibition of fossils is present chronologically such as Lufengosaurus of Jurassic Period, Chinese Platybelodon of Cretaceous Period, and Paleoloxodon Of Pleistocene.

3. Location of fossil:
   

   The representatives of animal groups living in the trench of Penghu, Taiwan are Bubalus Teilhardi Young, Paleoloxodon, and Pere David¡¦s deer. The fossils of important parts such as skull, backbone, and molar have been presented with reconstruction.

4. Biological characteristics:
   

   The exhibition of saber-toothed tiger skull (Carnivore), Chilotherium skull (herbivore), and wild pig skull (Omnivore) is presented to show the different shapes of teeth formed because of different eating habits.

The museum collects fossil vertebrates of Chondrichthyes, Osteichthyes, Amphibia, Reptilia and Mammalia originating from Taiwan, China and regions around the world covering the Paleozic era, Mesozoic era, and Cenozoic era.

The discoveries of fossil mammalia in the past two decades in Taiwan were made by the fishermen. After the primary study, the discoveries of fossils include the mammalia of Carnivore, Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla, Proboscidea, and Primates. Most of the findings were large Paleoloxodon and the skull and skeleton of Bubalus. The museum has finished the reconstruction of the skull model.

In addition, the museum held several large scale exhibitions such as Cambrian Explosion and Dancing with Dinosaur. During the planning phase, the museum collected fossils found in the mainland or worked together with local institutes on model reconstruction. The collection includes valuable fossils of Psittacosaurus, Keichousaurus, Confuciusornis sanctus, Mariner Turtle, Platybelodon, and Chilotherium as well as the reconstruction of skeleton model of Monolophosaurus, Dsungaripterus, Archaeomithomimus asiatiicus, Dilophosaurus, Sinomithosaurus, and Mamenchisaurus.

Other treasure collections from regions worldwide include Dicynodont of Permian, Ichthyosaurus of the Jurassic Period, Euhelopus of the Triassic Period, Protembolotherium of Oligocene, and Mammuthus of Pleistocene.

Fossil Vertebrates are large in the scale and easy to be seen, so with the animated modeling and ecological environment, the exhibitions of fossil vertebrates are often very popular. This project selects the symbolic fossils according to the biological classification and international Paleontological studies and after the column analysis and content application, the column and operational standard of two Metadata, ¡§Specimen Collection¡¨ and ¡§Collection Knowledge¡¨ has been set up as the database. The establishment of the digital museum website enables users to search the desired data according to the biological classification and facilitate a deeper understanding for fossil specimen.

Mammalia belongs to Vertebrate and they are what we call mammals. The study of fossil mammals has its significant contribution to paleontology. One of the reasons is because it has the close relations with the study of mammals living in the modern time. In addition, the study also relates to that of mammals in Mesozoic era and reptiles. Mammals is the latest evolved class of vertebrate, so it has the well recorded fossil data used as the important and useful historical material for the understanding of evolution of geology, vertebrate and humans in recent millions years.

Common characters of mammals are with Hair or fur, skin, constant body temperature (a layer of blubber), breast gland and placenta, viviparity (except for the monotreme) and breast feeding. A mammal has a four-chambered heart (two atria and two ventricles): double pumped ;a mammal¡¦s middle ear contains three bones: Stapes, Incus, and Malleus. The red blood cell represents a cell without a nucleus. Claws, talon, foot, hoof, and nail have experienced diversified evolution. But after being buried and fossilization, the characteristics of fossil mammals became ineligible to recognize due to chemical action (except for Mammuthus buried under Arctic Ice Cap).

Thus, paleontologists have to identify them according to harder parts. Mammals' occipital condyle is double-faced. There are seven bones in the neck of a mammal. The first two are atlas and axis; the lower jaw is made of teeth to form a joint with upper jaw. The scapula lies along the spine. The pelvic girdle of mammals is made of three bones: ilium, ischium, and pubis firmly attaching to the spine. Teeth are the hardest part of any mammal and therefore they are the part most often fossilized. Mammals are heterodonts, so mammal teeth evolved into different alignment and function. Teeth in mammals came in four sorts: such as that of incisor, canine, premolar, and molar; premolar and molar have more than one root. Bone and teeth in mammals are important to the study of vertebrate in the ancient time.

The earliest mammal-like animal, Morganucodon, appeared in the late Triassic period, evolved in era and came in abundant types in Cenozoic era. Till now, mammals are considered as the fastest rate evolution among all species and except for the centers of south and north pole and some individual islands, mammals can be seen everywhere.

The probocidea is often known as the elephant, the largest mammal on land. The leading characteristic is a long muscular, flexible, and prehensile proboscis with curling function, a powerful tool used for defending and eating. There are only two species of proboscidea alive today: the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and the African elephant (Loxodonta africana). The Asian elephants were historically found in South and South East Asia and now their population is limited to India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam; African elephants can be found in the whole African continent.

From tracing fossils, paleontologists came to understand that fossil elephant is found in wide distribution and variety. In Cenozoic period, the elephants evolved and diversified and more than 400 types of fossils have been known traversing areas around the world with the exception of Australia and the Antarctic. The ancestor of modern elephant, Moeritherium, living in Moeris Lake of Egypt in North Africa and tracing back to 55,000,000 years ago had the size of current day pigs and lacked any trunk or tusks. But the skull of Moeritherium was short and high and it had a low jaw indicating the well developed skull. In addition, the characteristics of grinding molar teeth and crown, enamel structure, skeleton and bone are the proofs of the family relations of Paleomastodon and modern elephants.

Elephant came to a diversified and complex evolution and it has the sorts of Moeritheriodea, Deinotherioidea, Mastodontoidea, and Elephatoidea, Each has different development and comes in great variety as well as traverses to different living environment. The tusk of each sort of elephant had been modified into unique shapes and sizes; for example, Deinotherium (Deinotheriidae) had sharp and inward lower incisors; Gomphotherium (Gomphotheriidae) had the rod-like tusks in both jaws. Platybelodon (Gomphotheriidae) developed large shovel shaped tusks; the incisors of Stegodon were like a knife with sharp-cutting edge. And also the well-known Mammuthus (Elephantidea) underfurred with long, dense hair had the curved incisors.

In the late Pleistocene epoch (about 40,000 to 20,000 years ago), Paleoloxodon (Elephantidea) traversed from North China to Taiwan. Paleoloxdon has a long and straight incisor, high rising lumber section of the spine, and the diamond formation ground by incisors. Fossil Paleoloxodon was found in the oceanic trench nearby Penghu. Although now Paleoxdon became extinct already, but the fossil gave us the valuable evidence to study the evolution and the changes of geological and climate changes.