Largest Dinosaur Poop

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You see this? Hold it real still
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You know what those are? Those are called micro poos. Hello everyone. My name is George Franson
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and I hold the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of coprolites
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or fossilized poop. So now let's take a look at a bunch of great specimens from my poo safe
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Look at this big beautiful one. Looks like it was just made
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This is a little box full of poo. Big pellets, little pellets, medium pellets
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Not only do I collect just fossilized poo, I collect fossils next to poos or on poos
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Look at that poo. It's almost like a big grin. Big grin for this exciting poo
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All fossilized. I don't collect fresh poo. I also hold the record for the largest coprolite in the world
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The only carnivorous dinosaur that was large enough to dump this remarkable bone-filled poop
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70 to 66.5 million years ago during the late Cretaceous was a Tyrannosaurus rex
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Interestingly enough, Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons were discovered in the same area as Barnum
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So we can be fairly confident that this is a T. rex trophy turd
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If you're wondering why coprolites are so awesome, you're in luck. Because today I am going to share five fascinating things that coprolites can teach us
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Number one. Home sweet home. Do you know that prehistoric critters actually lived in poop
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It's totally gross, but it's actually true. Here is a spectacular coprolite from Florida, which shows evidence of insect burrowing
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This shows that poop played an important part in our prehistoric ecosystem, much like poop in modern times
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These processes help break down the poop and supply nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium
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which helps plants grow faster. More plants equals more food. More food equals more poop
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You see it? Number two. Ha! You get it? Number two. Smells good, but tastes bad
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See this cookie? It looks and smells great. But imagine your reaction if you were to bite into this cookie
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and instead of delicious cream filling, you got toothpaste instead. Well, you'd be surprised and spit it out, right
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Check out this incredible coprolite from South Carolina. It has perfect top and bottom bite marks from some type of prehistoric critter
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Most likely a garfish of some kind. When this turd was fresh in the water
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it probably gave off a pungent scent that made it seem like an attractive meal to a hungry predator
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When the creature bit into the poo, it quickly realized this was not a delicious meal and spit it right out
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This term is called aborted coprophagy. We know prehistoric fish sampled poo because of this incredible specimen discovered in southwestern Wyoming
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It has remnants of poo stuck in its teeth. To date, this is the only vertebrate fossil that's ever been discovered that shows this yucky feeding habit
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Number three. Wide load. Think of a giant crocodile or alligator. Now think of its poop
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Did you think of something really long? Of course you did. But did you know that it's the diameter or width of a crocodilian's poop that has direct correlation of the animal's length
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It's true. Using a mathematical equation, scientists can estimate the length of a crocodilian using the diameter of its poop
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Because crocodilians have changed very little over millions of years, paleontologists can use this equation to estimate body sizes when crocodilian coprolites and fossilized poops are discovered
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Here is an example using one of my favorite coprolites, Precious. Precious is a crocodilian coprolite with a width of 12.5 centimeters or just under 5 inches
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Using the poo width equation, I can estimate that the maker was 6.5 meters or 21 feet long
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That's one huge prehistoric croc. Number four. Who goes there? In the world of coprolites, it is really difficult to link prehistoric feces with a certain prehistoric creature
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However, some lungfish and shark species have very distinctive valves in their intestines
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These spiral intestinal valves make gorgeous spiraled poop that turn into coprolites
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This one is from Kansas. This one is from New Jersey. Finally, this beautiful specimen straight from England
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Knowing what type of creature made a specific coprolite helps us piece together what prehistoric ecosystems looked like during a certain time and place
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Number five. What goes in must come out. This is Barnum. A Tyrannosaurus rex coprolite from South Dakota
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Barnum is the largest coprolite in the world. Tyrannosaur coprolites like this one provide a wealth of information about the diet and digestion of this formidable dinosaur
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By studying the bone inclusions, we can tell that T. rex crushed and consumed large quantities of bones when it ate
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It also shows that T. rex was not capable of completely digesting all of these bones
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This is a small piece of Barnum showing a distinct bone inclusion
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You can also see bits of bone throughout the surface of Barnum
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Coprolites tend to be the butt of a lot of fossil jokes
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However, they're an incredibly important and underrated part of our fossil record
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They can tell us a lot about prehistoric ecosystems, animal diets, physiology, anatomy, and of course, behaviors
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So what's next for Barnum? Like his namesake, P.T. Barnum, Barnum the coprolite is going to take his show on the road
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So hopefully Barnum will be at an exhibit near you very soon
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I hope you enjoyed meeting Barnum. Thank you Guinness World Records for making coprolites great again

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Largest Dinosaur Poop