What can we learn from fossilized dino dung?

These lowly little fossilized fossilized feces can actually give us a more holistic view of ancient

ecosystems than we've looked at before. It's Thursday, August 15th, 2024 and

you're listening to Science Friday. I'm Sci-Fi producer Shishana Bucksbaum.

Sure, the fossils from dinosaur bones are super cool, but what about fossilized dino poop? Scientific name coprolites. These

fossilized feces are rarer than their bony counterparts and dino droppings

hold the key to better understanding dino diets and ecosystems.

But how can scientists figure out if it's fossilized dino poop or just a rock?

To answer that question and much more, Ira sat down with one of the top

copulate experts in the world at Science Friday Live in Boulder, Colorado.

Here's Ira. Now, if you're anything like me,

whenever you go to a natural history museum,

you make a beeline for the dinosaur,

the dinosaur fossils, You want to see T-Rex skeleton, you want to be transported back in time. And dino fossils are how scientists understand what these prehistoric creatures look like,

how they moved, how they lived, how they reproduced,

but there is one type of fossil that sometimes sometimes overlooked.

And I'm talking about dino poop.

The special name for dino poop.

Scientific name is cuprolytes. And these fossilized feces are rarer than their bony counterparts, but you know what, dino droppings hold the keys to better understanding dino diets and ecosystems, but how can scientists figure out

if it's fossilized dino poop or just a rock? That's what my next guest is going to tell us all about. Joining me to

answer that burning question on a whole lot more is one of the preeminent

cuprelight researchers in the world,. Karen Chin, paleontologist and professor

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