RWA3006
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Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690 
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 12:39:12 GMT -5
What would you say is the craziest thing you’ve found to date in coprolite? Two things tie for the oddest in my opinion. First is I found crustacean shells in a coprolite which verifies scientist, Karen Chin's research paper stating that crustaceans were part of the hadrosaur diet. The second is I found a gastrolith within a coprolite that was petrified wood. It had actually petrified before the dino ingested it and thus we can infer that a fossil that was already petrified ended up inside a turd that eventually became a fossil. Photos below... |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 12:39:40 GMT -5
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 12:43:03 GMT -5
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 12:44:57 GMT -5
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wpotterw
spending too much on rocks
Member since September 2016
Posts: 450
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Post by wpotterw on Mar 25, 2024 14:54:51 GMT -5
It would be cool if you could determine the age of the gastrolith. |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 14:57:39 GMT -5
It would be cool if you could determine the age of the gastrolith. There could easily be more time between the gastrolith and the turd, than between the turd and us. That blows my mind. |
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 497
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Post by hplcman on Mar 25, 2024 17:13:49 GMT -5
I can't believe I just discovered this thread. It's going to take me a week to go through each page!! It's fascinating!
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 25, 2024 20:04:29 GMT -5
Ok, RWA3006 - that last one just put my brain right in the gutter!  |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 20:16:48 GMT -5
Ok, RWA3006 - that last one just put my brain right in the gutter! Me too, it's highly agatized and the photo was shown wet. I better polish that one and get it on the shelf. |
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Mar 25, 2024 20:27:32 GMT -5
Great idea! I have a friend here who has a whole shelf collection of porn rocks. He'd be envious of that one.  |
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Mar 25, 2024 21:11:18 GMT -5
Is this a turd dropped on a fossil? Amazing.  |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 25, 2024 21:13:49 GMT -5
Is this a turd dropped on a fossil? Amazing. No, I determined it had been ingested because I found more inside it when I cut it open. I immediately thought of Dr. Chins research paper that was published several years earlier. |
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dillonf
fully equipped rock polisher
Hounding and tumbling
Member since February 2022
Posts: 1,622
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Post by dillonf on Mar 25, 2024 21:18:47 GMT -5
Is this a turd dropped on a fossil? Amazing. No, I determined it had been ingested because I found more inside it when I cut it open. I immediately thought of Dr. Chins research paper that was published several years earlier. Wow! That is even cooler! |
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Post by jasoninsd on Mar 25, 2024 23:49:59 GMT -5
I can't believe I just discovered this thread. It's going to take me a week to go through each page!! It's fascinating! ...after a couple hours of reading this thread, you'll realize you should have called it a "doo-scovery"!  |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 26, 2024 6:58:30 GMT -5
TURD TUESDAY  |
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 26, 2024 6:59:15 GMT -5
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 26, 2024 6:59:52 GMT -5
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 26, 2024 11:08:01 GMT -5
So,... Who's going to interpret what we're seeing in the previous four photos? There's definitely a story being told there.
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hplcman
spending too much on rocks
Looking forward to my Friday Night Barrel Clean out!
Member since August 2022
Posts: 497
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Post by hplcman on Mar 26, 2024 11:47:08 GMT -5
The first thing I thought of was maybe that white area is a hunk of bone that the animal ate?
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RWA3006
Cave Dweller
Member since March 2009
Posts: 4,690
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Post by RWA3006 on Mar 28, 2024 7:27:08 GMT -5
The first thing I thought of was maybe that white area is a hunk of bone that the animal ate? Good guess but because of many other specimens with these features I've been able to put together numerous clues with some detective work and form an accurate hypothesis. On the above specimen you can see the ghost of a wood limb in the middle that's rather large. The growth rings aren't really well defined, but you can see the radial cracks emanating from the center typical of a limb. OK, that's one part of the story. The second part is that white structure. Detailed somewhere in the previous 162 pages of this thread we've been able to determine that anomalies like this are the burrows of dung beetle larvae that are filled with the excrement of the larva. Fossilized poo inside fossilized poo. It's interesting to note that the limb was not totally digested, and the larva deflected around the contour of the limb in its burrowing endeavor. |
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Maybe you can post some pictures here