SCIENTISTS have discovered a chunk of fossilised dinosaur poo that could solve a mystery that has puzzled researchers for years.
A feather of a bird eaten by the prehistoric beast 66 million years ago has survived within its solidified poo.
The preserved feather is providing a new insight into a scientific question that has plagued experts for a long time.
The remains of the age-old dung are a look back in time to a feathery meal enjoyed by a dinosaur and could tell us why birds survived the asteroid strike that wiped out dinosaurs.
When the asteroid collided with planet Earth 66 million years ago, the majority of prehistoric creatures were made extinct – including dinosaurs and the majority of birds.
One group of birds, known as Neornithes, survived and all birds alive today descended from the species.
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The fossilised faeces, known as coprolite, is believed to have belonged to a medium-sized dinosaur, such as a young T-Rex that lived on the land that is now the US state of Montana.
New research conducted by palaeontologists at the Field Museum in Chicago suggests that the feather and bone remains in the poo belonged to the Hesperornithiformes.
These creatures were flightless and toothless birds that swam in the sea and ate marine life – which explains the fish scales that were found to be present in this one’s stomach when it was eaten.
The Hesperornithiformes remains, discovered in 2016, could offer a clue as to why the Neornithes swerved extinction – as the two types of birds were closely related.
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Jingmai O’Connor, the lead author of the newly published findings, explained: “It’s such a beautiful, well-preserved feather, from such an unexpected source, and it’s exciting that it could help us answer this huge question in paleontology.
“As far as I know, no one has ever thought to look for feathers or to study feathers in coprolites, so this project was really exciting.”
The fossil expert continued: “We think the types of feathers that these birds had, and/or the way they moulted those feathers, may have been one of the underlying causes of the selectivity of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction – essentially, why some birds died out and why others survived.
“Some of these diving birds’ feathers seem to have been modern-looking and water-proof, but they also had some smaller, fuzzy, primitive body feathers that we associate with dinosaurs and enantiornithines.”