Paleontology World - Blog Posts

Could a long term mineralization process really preserve so much details?

This coprolite specimen,  is the largest fossilized feces found to date. Found in South Carolina, it weighs just over four pounds.

A new method could reveal just what dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures ate. Scientists study every inch of an animal—from the tip of their nose right down to their, well, poop. ... But until now, only a limited amount could be learned from from studying fossilized feces, also known as coprolites.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-use-particle-accelerator-look-inside-ancient-poo-180963604/

Evidence that contradicts the mineralization theory.

Another important example for the swift petrification is the so called dinosaur Coprolite or Dino Poop or dung. They must have been petrified when they were still soft. They wouldn’t resist the decay if being flooded for a long period. The outer details or texture would have been damaged or mixed with mud or sand. You notice that the texture looks fresh as if it was yesterday. I challenge the scientists that believe in the mineralization theory to prove that it can happen in real time, to prove that a new poop would keep its shape after being covered with mud.

Watch this video to see whats inside a  dinosaur   poop:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXCuswJE1fo

Above a nest full of fossilized dinosaur babies has been discovered in Mongolia. The approximately 75-million-year-old nest shows 15 juvenile members of Protoceratops andrewsi a relative of  Tricerato.                            

Next Embryos from the world's earliest nesting site. The fossil was discovered in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, in South Africa. The sharpest look yet at the oldest known dinosaur embryos.  In 1978, James Kitching discovered two dinosaur embryos in Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa. Scientists uncovered clutches of fossilized eggs at the site in the Golden Gate Highlands national park, South Africa, some still with embryos – and tiny dinosaur footprints. The nests belonged to Massospondylus, a six-meter (20ft) ancestor of long-necked “sauropod” dinosaurs that lived 190m years ago.                                 The process seems that it didn’t take a long time as the embryo didn’t rotten.   “The footprints range in size. Some are so tiny, they had to have been hatchlings, Others are twice that size, but not the size of adults “  “It shows that hatchlings were doubling in size before moving away from the nesting area.”  says Dr Adam Yates, who was at the Bernard Price Institute (BPI) for Palae-ontological Research at Wits University. It is believed that the nests, believes Yates, were close to a water source. That same water source, a river perhaps, flooded the site and preserved it. But when using some logic we discover that this hypothesis must be just an illusion. If there was such a flood the nest should have been washed away and the nest should have been scrambled. Thats a prove that the petrificatin happened instantly and fast and not due to flooding.   At least 10 nests have been discovered in the Golden Gate National Park, and each had up to 34 eggs packed in tight clusters. The distribution of the nests suggest to the scientists that the dinosaurs returned to the site over periods of time, and that they might have assembled in groups, to lay their eggs. They also believe the fragile eggs were laid in carefully constructed nests. A flood wouldn’t leave the nests so untouched.

https://www.iol.co.za/news/sa-scientists-find-dino-nursery-1218907

The hand print of a baby dinosaur from the nesting site.

A nest of dinosaur eggs from the South African nesting site.

Infant Dinosaurs Discovered Crowded in Nest, The dinosaur is named Protoceratops andrewsi, a sheep-size herbivore that lived about 70 million years ago that's known for the frill at the back of its head. Within the nest were infants about 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) long and probably no more than a year old. Here it is said that  the dinosaur infants may have been overrun by migrating dunes during a sandstorm. Back when the dinosaurs lived, some 70 million years ago, the area would've been a windblown dune field, where dunes may have reached as tall as 80 feet (24 meters). "The evidence suggests they may have been overrun by migrating dunes during a sandstorm," researcher David Fastovsky, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Rhode Island, told LiveScience. That’s another confused hypothesis because if it was a sand storm or a moving dune they wouldn’t stick together they would at least try to run away, as we know that sand dunes are moving very slow.

https://www.livescience.com/17076-infant-dinosaurs-nest-discovered.html