Are you seeking to find all Fossils in Animal Crossing: New Horizons? You’ll be doing a lot of digging throughout your journey, but the activity itself is well worth your while. Not only will you be able to complete exhibits in the Museum, but you’ll likely end up with a lot of cash. We’ve got you covered with a step-by-step explanation, along with a list of all Fossils in the game, in this article.
Find all of our guides on Nintendo’s beloved life sim, including those on the 3.0 update, in our Animal Crossing: New Horizons guides hub.
Part 1: Critters for Tom Nook
Before you can start collecting Fossils in the game, you must do a basic task for Tom Nook in the Resident Services tent. You’ll just need to hand over five unique bugs or fish to him:
- You can catch bugs using the Flimsy Net.
- You can catch fish using the Flimsy Fishing Rod.
Tom Nook will call his friend, Blathers, when you donate unique specimens. Eventually, he’ll give you a construction item for Blathers’ tent.
Part 2: Exhibits for Blathers
You should be able to gather Fossils in Animal Crossing: New Horizons soon enough. Once you have the construction item, place it anywhere on your island. After a daily reset at 5 a.m. local time, Blathers’ tent will be fully built.
Blathers knows you’ve already donated a bunch of stuff earlier, but he still wants you to provide 15 additional specimens of unique bugs, fish, or fossils.
Note: Assuming you found a bunch of insects and fish earlier, don’t sell them to Timmy. Instead, you can just place them somewhere on your island. Once Blathers arrives, you can donate the unique specimens to him to quickly add to the remainder of the tally.
Part 3: Digging for Fossils
To obtain Fossils in the game, you need to craft a Shovel. The recipe for the initial option, the Flimsy Shovel, comes from Blathers. You need 5x Hardwood to craft it, so make sure you already have an Axe.
In any case, roam around the island and look for star-shaped markers on the ground. Use the Shovel to dig them up to obtain a Fossils that still have to be identified.
Note: There are usually three or more dig spots on your island. New dig spots appear every daily reset.
Part 4: Identifying Fossils and unlocking the Museum
After finding a Fossil, you must hand it over to Blathers so it can be assessed and identified. Blathers will also ask if you want to learn more about the ancient creatures’ parts that you discovered, but it’s up to you if you want to have a chat about those.
- At this stage, you’ll want to continue handing over unique bug, fish, and fossil specimens to Blathers. Once you’ve donated 15 in total, Blathers temporarily won’t accept additional donations.
- Upon giving 15 specimens to Blathers, the construction of the Museum will begin on the next daily reset.
- Then, after another daily reset, the Museum should be fully built on your island.
- Once the Museum is up and running, you can go ahead and provide more unique specimens to Blathers.
- Always do assessments and donations in batches — i.e. two or more — so Blathers doesn’t babble on and pester you about creature info each time.
Part 5: Selling or keeping extra Fossils and specimens
What about extra specimens? Well, don’t fret. Generally speaking, you should only give one of each unique specimen to Blathers to add to your collection. As for all the extras that you obtain later:
- Fish and bugs ought to be sold to Timmy in the Resident Services tent, at least early on. Doing so nets some additional Bells.
- Do not sell non-assessed/unidentified Fossils to Timmy, as these have a low price. Instead, have Blathers assess Fossils and donate unique parts. Once you start acquiring extras/duplicates, you can sell them to Timmy since they fetch higher prices.
- Alternatively, you can keep the duplicate Fossil parts in your storage. Later, when you need to have your island rating checked, you can place these Fossils in various areas. They might help “beautify” your island due to their rarity as exhibits.
Part 6: List of all Fossils
Below is a list of Fossils in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, along with their respective selling price. Note that several of these form complete sets that are exhibited in the Museum. The larger the dinosaur/creature, the more body parts it has that are part of the set.
Archaeological exhibit sets
Ankylosaurus
- Skull – 3,500
- Torso – 3,000
- Tail – 2,500
Archelon
- Skull – 4,000
- Tail – 3,500
Brachiosaurus
- Skull – 6,000
- Chest – 5,500
- Pelvis – 5,000
- Tail – 5,500
Deinonychus
- Torso – 3,000
- Tail – 2,500
Dimetrodon
- Skull – 5,500
- Torso – 5,000
Diplodocus
- Skull – 5,000
- Neck – 4,500
- Chest – 4,000
- Pelvis – 4,500
- Tail – 5,000
- Tail tip – 4,000
Iguanodon
- Skull – 4,000
- Torso – 3,500
- Tail – 3,000
Mammoth
- Skull – 4,500
- Torso – 2,500
Megacerops
- Skull – 4,500
- Torso – 3,500
- Tail – 3,000
Megaloceros
- Left side – 4,000
- Right side – 5,500
Opthalmosaurus
- Skull – 2,500
- Torso – 2,000
Pachycephalosaurus
- Skull – 3,500
- Torso – 3,000
- Tail – 2,500
Plesiosaurus
- Skull – 4,000
- Torso – 4,500
- Tail – 4,500
Pteranodon
- Torso – 4,000
- Left wing – 4,500
- Right wing – 4,500
Quetzalcoatus
- Torso – 4,500
- Left wing – 5,000
- Right wing – 5,000
Sabertooth Tiger
- Skull – 2,500
- Tail – 2,000
Spinosaurus
- Skull – 4,000
- Torso – 5,000
- Tail – 2,500
Stegosaurus
- Skull – 5,000
- Torso – 4,500
- Tail – 4,000
Triceratops
- Skull – 5,500
- Torso – 5,000
- Tail – 4,500
Tyrannosaurus Rex
- Skull – 6,000
- Torso – 5,500
- Tail – 5,000
Standalone Fossils
Some Fossils are standalone items. You only need one of these, and the firstone you donate to Blathers will be exhibited in the Museum:
- Acanthostega – 2,000
- Amber – 1,200
- Ammonite – 1,100
- Anomalocaris – 2,000
- Archaeopteryx – 1,300
- Australopith – 1,100
- Coprolite – 1,100
- Dinosaur Track – 1,000
- Dunkleosteus – 3,500
- Eusthenopteron – 2,000
- Juramaia – 1,000
- Myllkunmingia – 1,500
- Shark-tooth Pattern – 1,000
- Trilobite – 1,300
That does it for our guide on Animal Crossing: New Horizons Fossils and specimens. Keep growing your Museum collection so everyone can marvel at your exhibits. If you need help with other matters, you can always head to our guides hub.
