Feces Fossils


Huge Fossilized Dung Reveals a Hidden Ancient Ecosystem   Live Science - July 17, 2009
The world might be knee-deep in cow patties and other animal waste today were it not for dung beetles. Dung beetles roll the waste of large animals into tiny balls that they bury underground to snack on later. Burying the dung fertilizes the soil and reduces disease, but the benefits don't stop there. A new study of 30 million-year-old fossilized mega-dung balls, as big as three inches (seven centimeters) in diameter and produced from the dung of extinct giant South American mammals, reveals that the dung was also a food source for a number of insects that would steal a bite while the dung beetles weren't looking.




Feces hint at first Americans BBC - April 3, 2008
Fossilized feces found in Oregon's Paisley Caves may help solve the riddle of when and how humans came to the Americas. The samples date back just over 14,000 years, before the time of the Clovis culture. Clovis people dominated North and Central America around 13,000 years ago, and whether any groups came before them has been controversial.





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