Fossil collecting
![](/Images/godic/202501/14/Palais_de_la_Decouverte_Tyrannosaurus_rex_p10500422155.jpg")
![Collecting fossilized shark's teeth is an easy way to begin collecting fossils. They are often found in abundance on public beaches. The teeth shown here were collected in Castle Hayne, North Carolina, and are from the Eocene and Cretaceous divisions.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Sharksteeth-castlehain2155.jpg")
![College of Wooster students collecting fossils as part of their invertebrate paleontology course. This is a roadside outcrop of Ordovician limestones and shales in southeastern Indiana.](/Images/godic/202501/14/07PaleoFTb112155.JPG")
![A Tarbosaurus specimen that was illegally smuggled to the US, and subsequently returned to Mongolia](/Images/godic/202501/14/TBataar2155.jpeg")
Fossil collecting (some times, in a non-scientific sense, fossil hunting) is the collection of fossils for scientific study, hobby, or profit. Fossil collecting, as practiced by amateurs, is the predecessor of modern paleontology and many still collect fossils and study fossils as amateurs. Professionals and amateurs alike collect fossils for their scientific value. A commercial trade in fossils has also long existed, with some of this being practised illegally.