An Arizona museum tells the stories of ancient animals through their fossilized poop

AP News Staff

WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) — One measurement to thief show really a Tyrannosaurus rex digested nutrient is to look astatine its poop.

Bone fragments successful a portion of fossilized excrement astatine a caller depository successful bluish Arizona — aptly called nan Poozeum — are among nan tinier bits of grounds that bespeak T. rex wasn’t overmuch of a chewer, but alternatively swallowed full chunks of prey.

The sample is 1 of much than 7,000 connected show astatine nan depository that opened successful May successful Williams, a municipality known for its Wild West shows on Route 66, wildlife attractions and a railway to Grand Canyon National Park.

The Poozeum motion features a agleam greenish T. rex animation characteristic sitting connected a toilet to drawback attraction from nan buzzing neon lights and muffled 1950s euphony emanating from different businesses.

Inside, show cases filled pinch coprolites — fossilized feces from animals that lived millions of years agone — statement nan walls. They scope from minuscule termite droppings to a monolithic specimen that weighs 20 pounds (9 kilograms).

Poozeum’s president and curator, George Frandsen, bought his first chunk of fossilized feces from a shop successful Moab, Utah, erstwhile he was 18, he said. He already loved dinosaurs and fossils but had ne'er heard of fossilized poop. From there, his fascination grew.

“It was funny. It was gross,” he said. “But I learned very quickly it could show america truthful overmuch astir our prehistoric past and really important they are to nan fossil record.”

Coprolites aren’t tremendously communal but they tin dress up nan mostly of fossils recovered astatine immoderate sites, and group person learned much and much astir them complete nan past fewer decades, said Anthony Fiorillo, executive head of nan New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

It tin beryllium difficult to place them and successful immoderate cases, specimens that appeared to beryllium coprolites — pinch their pinched ends and striations — were examined further and yet reclassified arsenic thing else.

“There’s a number of sedimentary processes that tin nutrient an extrusion of soft mud to a different layer,” he said. “So deliberation astir your toothpaste, for example. When you compression it, location tin beryllium immoderate striations connected that toothpaste.”

Fossil enthusiast Brandee Reynolds precocious visited nan depository pinch her hubby aft uncovering it was a short detour from a roadworthy travel they had planned.

“I mostly find crisp teeth and things for illustration that,” she said. “I haven’t really recovered a full batch of coprolite, but who doesn’t emotion coprolite?”

A item of Frandsen’s postulation is simply a specimen that holds a Guinness World Record for being nan largest coprolite near by a carnivorous animal. Measuring much than 2 feet (61 centimeters) agelong and complete 6 inches (15 centimeters) wide, Frandsen said it’s believed to beryllium from a T. rex, fixed wherever it was recovered connected a backstage ranch successful South Dakota successful 2019.

Frandsen besides holds nan grounds for nan largest certified coprolite postulation of 1,277 pieces, earned successful 2015 erstwhile it was verified astatine nan South Florida Museum successful Bradenton, Florida.

His postulation now stands astatine astir 8,000 specimens. He doesn’t person nan room to show it each successful nan depository successful Williams and features immoderate online.

No request to interest astir immoderate smell aliases germs, Frandsen said. Those evaporated millions of years ago, erstwhile nan feces were covered pinch sediment and replaced by minerals, making them rock-hard.

Location, shape, size and different materials for illustration bones aliases plants tin find if thing is simply a coprolite, but not needfully which animal deposited it, Fiorillo said.

“I deliberation nan mostly of america would say, let’s pump nan brakes connected that and conscionable beryllium happy if we could find carnivore, herbivore and past look astatine perchance those nutrient cycles wrong each of those wide groups,” said Fiorillo, a trained paleontologist and writer of books connected dinosaurs.

Ideally, Fiorillo said he hopes fossils that are uncommon and tin adhd to nan knowing of nan prehistoric world find their measurement into nan nationalist sphere truthful researchers tin usage them arsenic they shape hypotheses astir life agelong ago.

Like Frandsen, Fiorillo said he was captivated by fossils erstwhile he was young. He pointed to backstage quarries successful Wyoming’s Fossil Basin wherever nan nationalist tin hunt for fossilized fish, plants and moreover coprolites. People besides tin sojourn a investigation quarry to study astir paleontology astatine nan adjacent Fossil Butte National Monument.

If a kid goes location inspired aft uncovering a fossil aliases seeing 1 connected show astatine a museum, past that’s awesome, Fiorillo said.

“Maybe they’ll beryllium nan adjacent generation,” he said.