FIELD INSTRUMENT · PRE-LAUNCH

The real fossil record,
in your pocket.

PaleoDex is a paleontology explorer built on open science data — over 74,000 real genera and 1.8 million fossil occurrence records, turned into a live map, a sourced field dossier, and a dig game. Every species actually lived.

JOIN THE WAITLIST SEE HOW IT WORKS →
COMING TO iOS & ANDROID ◈ 74,000+ REAL GENERA
PaleoDex app — fossil radar screen
◎ WARM · 2.4 KM NW
⬡ MYTHIC FIND
74,000+
PREHISTORIC GENERA
1.8M+
FOSSIL OCCURRENCE RECORDS
540M
YEARS OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT
12
GEOLOGICAL PERIODS COVERED
// THE FIELD KIT

Everything you need to hunt the past.

Five instruments work together — from the first warm pulse on the radar to the moment a specimen slots into your museum.

RADAR

Sweep real dig sites

Your detector warms as you near a genuine fossil locality pulled from 1.8 million real occurrence records. Triangulate the anomaly, then dig.

FOSSIL-DEX

74,000+ real species, properly sourced

Every genus has a sourced field dossier: real photo, scientific classification from the Open Tree of Life, age, formation, locality, diet, and rarity tier. Nothing invented.

Fossil-DEX species dossier
FOSSILRUN

Dig it out

Time your strikes in the excavation mini-game. Clean timing means a better-condition specimen — every find is a real, photographed genus.

FossilRun excavation mini-game
SIGNAL

Live from the dig

A bilingual paleontology news stream — new species and fresh fossils from major science outlets, in English and Spanish.

SIGNAL paleontology news feed
COLLECTION RANK

Climb the ranks

An 8-tier ladder scored on collection size, perfect specimens, field finds, and rarity — with "next move" tips to guide your progress.

Collection rank tiers
// CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Everything connects.

Watch the continents drift — from today all the way back 540 million years — as climates shift and each period’s characteristic life surfaces on the live map. Every creature you find takes its place in the bigger story.

  • →Featured Finds — the emblematic genera of each era surface as you scrub the timeline.
  • →Plate Tectonics — watch the map and climate shift across eras using real paleogeographic reconstructions.
  • →All 12 Periods — tap any geological period to see its world, biome, and characteristic life forms.
  • →Explore all 12 periods →
Continental drift map
FossilRun excavation screen
// THREE STEPS

From sidewalk to specimen.

01

Detect

Open the radar and start walking. It pulses warmer as you near a buried anomaly mapped from real fossil occurrence data. Move to triangulate the exact spot.

02

Excavate

When a site surfaces, line up your strikes in FossilRun. Clean timing on the dig means a higher-condition specimen. Every reveal is a real, documented genus.

03

Collect

Every specimen lands in your Fossil-DEX and museum, ranked by rarity and shown with its full scientific classification. Read its sourced field dossier, track completion progress, compete on the leaderboard.

// THE DATA

No invented creatures. No made-up stats.

PaleoDex is built on open paleontology data — the Paleobiology Database, GBIF, the Open Tree of Life and more. If a fact isn't sourced, PaleoDex leaves it blank rather than guessing. That's the rule, and it's genuinely true.

SOURCE WHAT IT PROVIDES
Paleobiology Database (PBDB)The backbone: genera, ~1.8M fossil occurrences, ages, formations, environments, and paleo-coordinates.
GBIFExtinct-vs-living status flags across thousands of genera.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia CommonsField write-ups and real species photographs.
WikidataStructured facts and cross-references.
Open Tree of LifeThe live scientific classification (Kingdom → Genus lineage) shown in every dossier.
PhyloPicClean CC0 category silhouettes used as image fallbacks.
Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)Supplementary trait and ecology enrichment.
GPlates / paleogeographic modelThe continental-drift reconstructions on the Continental Drift map.
MapTiler · MapLibre · OpenStreetMapThe live base world map.

→ How we source every fact →

// START DIGGING

Start your field log — 540 million years of real life await.

PaleoDex is coming to iOS and Android. Join the waitlist and be first to dig.

COMING TO iOS & ANDROID · NO DIG LICENSE REQUIRED
// FIELD MANUAL

Questions from the trail.