I work at a university and a guy called this summer to see if we wanted some "dinosaur poop" he found. Maybe he was prank calling, byt he sounded totally serious. I just want to know how he knew it was dinosaur poop? We don't have a paleontology dept so I sent him to biology.
1
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
4 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.
It might well have been worth having a look at it, and his identification could have been correct - some specimens of coprolites are very obviously faeces. He might also have found it in an area where coprolites have previously been found, perhaps even in an area where they were mined (in the past, they were ground up and used in the manufacture of fertiliser - here in the UK, the finest buildings in some villages were paid for thanks to fossilised faeces!)
Jnei
Level 8
Oct 24, 2018
0
Just for general information, dinosaur poop is technically called coprolites. The term was coined by the famous plains paleontologist, Otneil Marsh. He named it in retribution to him principle competitor. Edward Cope (coprolite). They dispised one another and sabatoged one another continuosly.
A good read about them. "The Bone Wars". Worth the time.
t1nick
Level 8
Sep 20, 2018
1
