Most living organisms are never preserved, in fact only a small
number of species are preserved as fossils. Many are preserved
due to the presence of hard body parts but few are preserved
with only soft parts. Fossils which have been preserved in
certain conditions may have both the hard parts such as bones
preserved along with their soft tissues such as organs and skin.
The location at which these exceptionally well preserved fossils
are preserved is known as a lagerstätten. One of the most famous
lagerstätten is the Burgess Shale in Canada which was first
discovered in 1909. The fossils here are Cambrian (505 million
years old) in age. The Silurian (425 million years old) Wenlock
Series in the UK is also a noted lagerstätten in the
Herefordshire section of the unit. Here three dimensional body
fossils have been found. Within the collection at Dudley Museum
& Art Gallery there is a soft bodied worm which was preserved
within the Much Wenlock Limestone Formation from the Wrens Nest,
Dudley. Another local site