TIL: Dinosaur dung mining was a local industry

If you enjoy trivia then the No such thing as a fish podcast could be for you. It's produced by the researchers behind the QI TV panel show. One of the items in episode 141 was about coprolite, which is fossilised dinosaur faeces. Apparently there was a thriving industry mining it in the 19th century as it was high in phosphates for fertilise. One on the centres for this in England was the village of Shillington, which is just a few miles from me in Bedforshire. Miners could earn a lot more than other jobs in the countryside at the time.

Dung
Image from WIkimedia

The largest collection of coprolite belongs to a guy in the US. Good specimens can be worth a lot of money.

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