Exploring Dinosaur Dung: The Connection Between Coprolites and Ancient Ecosystems

Walking into Karen Chin's office at the University of Colorado, Boulder, one of the first things you might notice is that petrified poops are everywhere. They're in shallow boxes covering every surface and filling up shelves, cabinets and drawers. She's a leading expert in the fossils, known as coprolites. They delight her because of what they reveal about the ancient eating habits and food webs of dinosaurs — rare insights for the paleontology world. This episode, she talks with Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott about the lessons scientists can learn from ancient poopetrators.

Interested in learning more ancient or scatological mysteries of science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover it on a future episode!

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