Among the surprises: Poop often retains its hue and contours. “I guess that’s part of the beauty of fossils,” Allen-Carlson said. “They get covered fast enough that their degradation is stopped. All ...

He already loved dinosaurs and fossils but had never heard of fossilised poop. “It was funny. It was gross,” he said. “But I learned very quickly it could tell us so much about our ...