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On the Elusive Trail of Fossil Dung

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2017

Karen Chin
Karen Chin*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
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Extract

Every once in a while, prospecting paleontologists happen upon distinctive fossil blobs with vaguely familiar shapes. They are usually sausage-shaped or roundish, and are made of material that is clearly not just bone or parent sediment These unusual formations are fossil feces—also known as coprolites. They were produced by fish, crocodiles, and mammals, and some were produced by dinosaurs.

Type
Adaptations and Behavior
Information
The Paleontological Society Special Publications , Volume 7: Dino Fest , 1994 , pp. 285 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 Paleontological Society 

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