Posted on Nov 24, 2023
What fossilized poop can teach us about dinosaurs : Short Wave
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https://www.npr.org/2023/11/24/ [login to see] /dinosaurs-fossilized-poop-utah-dung-beetles-jurassic-park
As a graduate student, Karen Chin worked on a dinosaur dig site in Montana with the renowned paleontologist Jack Horner. Her job was to cut thin sections from fossilized skeletons in order to analyze them under the microscope.
But it wasn't the bones that caught her attention.
"I learned that somebody had found fossilized feces, and I thought that was just the weirdest thing," she recalls. So she asked to make a thin section of the feces. "And when I looked through the microscope, I could see plant cells that were ingested 75 million years ago by a dinosaur. And it blew my mind because I thought, 'Man, this is how you can learn about interactions between dinosaurs and plants and other organisms.'"
As a graduate student, Karen Chin worked on a dinosaur dig site in Montana with the renowned paleontologist Jack Horner. Her job was to cut thin sections from fossilized skeletons in order to analyze them under the microscope.
But it wasn't the bones that caught her attention.
"I learned that somebody had found fossilized feces, and I thought that was just the weirdest thing," she recalls. So she asked to make a thin section of the feces. "And when I looked through the microscope, I could see plant cells that were ingested 75 million years ago by a dinosaur. And it blew my mind because I thought, 'Man, this is how you can learn about interactions between dinosaurs and plants and other organisms.'"
What fossilized poop can teach us about dinosaurs : Short Wave
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: 
State of Montana
Paleontology
University of Colorado – Boulder
Science
Geology
State of Montana Paleontology University of Colorado – Boulder Science Geology
Posted 5 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel who'd a thunk...
..."The first thing you notice on walking into Chin's office is that petrified poops are everywhere. They're in shallow boxes covering every surface and filling up shelves, cabinets and drawers.
"They just look like black rocks," she explains. "They don't have the sausage shape that you would expect to see of fossil feces. They're kind of angular."
Karen Chin excavating a dinosaur coprolite at the Kaiparowits Formation of Southern Utah.
Karen Chin
That's because, well, they had a hearty distance to fall from the dinosaur's butt to the ground — and so likely broke apart on impact.
As for the size of dinosaur dung, Chin says none approach the Jeff Goldblum-height heaps seen in Jurassic Park. The biggest she has examined was six liters — a little smaller than a basketball.
"When I saw the movie, I thought that was rather humorous," she says. "But it actually made sense because if you have a dinosaur in a zoo, they're going to be producing so much dung. And what are the zookeepers going to do with it but pile it up in one place, so somebody could cart it off later?"...
..."The first thing you notice on walking into Chin's office is that petrified poops are everywhere. They're in shallow boxes covering every surface and filling up shelves, cabinets and drawers.
"They just look like black rocks," she explains. "They don't have the sausage shape that you would expect to see of fossil feces. They're kind of angular."
Karen Chin excavating a dinosaur coprolite at the Kaiparowits Formation of Southern Utah.
Karen Chin
That's because, well, they had a hearty distance to fall from the dinosaur's butt to the ground — and so likely broke apart on impact.
As for the size of dinosaur dung, Chin says none approach the Jeff Goldblum-height heaps seen in Jurassic Park. The biggest she has examined was six liters — a little smaller than a basketball.
"When I saw the movie, I thought that was rather humorous," she says. "But it actually made sense because if you have a dinosaur in a zoo, they're going to be producing so much dung. And what are the zookeepers going to do with it but pile it up in one place, so somebody could cart it off later?"...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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