The archaeologists found a location that became 'public toilet' during the life of the dinosaur in an excavation in Argentina. The discovery of the location was breaking previous record i.e 220 million years old.
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| An artist's impression of the world's oldest toilet. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/) |
It was detected from the presence of thousands of fossilized dung which is similar to a large rhino eating plants are also found in the same location. "There is no doubt who did it," said Dr. Lucas Fiorelli from Crilar-Conicet, who discovered the dirt as reported by the BBC on November 28, 2013.
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| Each poo is a time capsule to the dawn of the dinosaurs. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/) |
Site is approximately 240 million years old and is the oldest "public toilet" in the world and is the first evidence that the ancient reptiles share a place to dispose of their waste. The largest fossilized poo with a size of 40 cm and a weight of several kilograms was found at a number of locations in Chanares Formation, La Rioja Province.
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| A museum of poos has been created by the researchers. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/) |
It looked like sausages, and other oval-shaped, with a different color from whitish gray to dark brown-purple. Manure also contains the eating patterns clue of these prehistoric creatures, the type of disease and plants that lived at that time.
Elephants, deer and horses are modern animals defecate in a socially agreed upon location to mark territory and to reduce the spread of parasites. "Only one species can produce large dirt and we find their bones at the site," he continued.
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| The culprits were dicynodonts - ancient megaherbivores. (Picture from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/) |
The culprit is Dinodontosaurus, plant-eating which has a length of 2.4 meters, similar to the modern rhinoceros. These animals are large dicynodonts mammals resemble reptiles that used to live in the Triassic period, when the first dinosaurs appeared.
The fact that they share a 'latrine' indicates that they live in groups, which have a reason to throw dirt strategically, said Dr. Fiorelli. "First of all, the action is necessary to avoid parasites," he added.
"But this is also a warning to their predators. Leaving the large poo, meaning a large group," he continued. Predator for this group is Luperosuchus, similar to meat-eating crocodile whose length reaches 8 meters. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | THE WIRE | SEPTI | PIKIRAN RAKYAT 05122013]
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