Not Your Dog's Masterpieces

By: Luat Tran Van


Something that on a first impression may seem laughable but is a serious matter indeed is the concept of a 'coprolite.'

Coprolites are nothing more and nothing less than fossilised faeces of animals vanished long ago, and while it may seem odd that anybody may be on the look for such produces of nature, there are actually many scientists in the field of palaeontology that are very happy when they come across one of those treasures - so to speak. Indeed, coprolites are highly valuable not only because they are hard to find, but for the information that is contained within them.

The difficulty of finding them lies in the mechanisms of fossilisation: in order for this long process to take place, decomposition must be stopped by a variety of means; however, faeces are usually ripe with bacteria so it is unlikely that such a thing will somehow, be left suddenly sterile. Then, you have to have the eye to find one.

But many coprolites from a wide variety of species have been found during exploration expeditions searching for fossils on purpose, or just by chance. These fossils yielded a lot of information on the habits of those animals that first produced them.

In some cases, particularly with coprolites generated by herbivorous species, the semi digested contents indicated the presence of plant species for which nothing else is known. Also, illnesses, bacteria and even parasites have been identified, co coprolites really fill gaps in our knowledge about the past, for which we presently have no alternative sources.

For something as simple and prosaic as dung kept inside rocks for aeons we can start to see seasonal changes during the life of animals, changes of diets due to possible migratory movements, and may other things. Besides, this kind of fossil is studied over time repeatedly, because as new fossil evidence is discovered elsewhere, so does appear the need for new comparative studies.

And there has been at leas one case in which coprolites have actually been eaten: some settlers travelling thorough the United States were starving, and just by chance they ran into a cave where they found some stuff that appeared to them like caramel or syrup, and for the dissatisfaction of their digestive systems, they ate it.

It was not exactly a coprolite, but on the process of becoming it: the 43.000 years faces and urine of rodents combined looked like food fallen from heave, but they were not. This may seem hard to believe but it is a true fact: there are scientists that actually spend years looking at this produce of mother Earth, hoping to gather new information.

So, the next time you come across a coprolite, you will know: it is not your dog's masterpiece.

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