Scylla Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Supposed longest coprolite up for auction. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/longest-fossilized-poop-to-be-sold-at-auction/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
painshill Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 I was rather doubtful, and invited folks to weigh in here: http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/48247-poop-yes-or-no/ There seems to be a body of opinion that the ID as coprolite is rather presumptive. My money would be on siderite concretion... or rather my money wouldn't be on it at all with that price estimate. Roger I keep six honest serving-men (they taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who [Rudyard Kipling] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted July 24, 2014 Author Share Posted July 24, 2014 I think we discussed these "coprolites" in the past and I don't think it is one either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Can it be legally auctioned advertised as such? (If not proven to be one.) Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Can it be legally auctioned advertised as such? (If not proven to be one.) Evidently. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 What is Auspex so fond of saying, caveat emptor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullsnake Posted July 24, 2014 Share Posted July 24, 2014 What is Auspex so fond of saying, caveat emptor! Ha, I had that in my post, but backspaced to the basic question. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkovalchuk Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 That is a siderite "pseudo-coprolite" and not a coprolite at all. Anyone who has found these in Western Washington knows the odd shapes and forms they can take but they are not coprolites. Never any bones, plant remains, shell remains, etc. There is an older scientific paper (sorry about lack of specifics) that describes potential ways these are formed and one is through mud oozing through knot holes in flood plain tree stumps. Caveat emptor indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxytropidoceras Posted July 26, 2014 Share Posted July 26, 2014 A web page that discusses these objects is: Pseudo-poo! All that glitters isn’t fecal gold by Andrew Farke, PLOS Blogs, July 23, 2014 http://blogs.plos.org/paleo/2014/07/23/pseudo-poo-glitters-isnt-fecal-gold/ The papers that this article cites are: Mustoe, G. E., 2001, Enigmatic origin of ferruginous “coprolites”: Evidence from the Miocene Wilkes Formation, southwestern Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin vol. 113 no. 6, pp. 673–681. http://bulletin.geoscienceworld.org/content/113/6/673 Seilacher, A., C. Marshall, H. C. W. Skinner, and T. Tsuihiji, 2001, A fresh look at sideritic “coprolites.” Paleobiology. vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 7–13. http://paleobiol.geoscienceworld.org/content/27/1/7.abstract Spencer, P. K., 1993, The “coprolites” that aren’t: The straight poop on specimens from the Miocene of southwestern Washington State. Ichnos. vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 231–236. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10420949309380097 Yancey, T. E., G. E. Mustoe, E. B. Leopold, and M. T. Heizler, 2013, Mudflow disturbance in latest Miocene forests in Lewis County, Washington. PALAIOS. vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 343–358. http://palaios.sepmonline.org/content/28/6/343.short A wikipedi image is "File:Pseudocoprolite.jpg" at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pseudocoprolite.jpg Yours, Paul H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gkovalchuk Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Thanks for the links to the pseudo-coprolite articles Paul H! I also saw this news release from National Geographic this morning which seems to confirm some of our suspicions: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140729-dinosaur-coprolite-paleontology-dung-fossil-auction/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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