Re: Theropod eating and attacking

[pwillis@ozemail.com.au (Paul Willis)]

>Owl pellets fossilize? Really? Cool!  If so, that's a good point.  But
>maybe dino pellets were not recognized as pellets and mistaken for
>coprolites?  Or perhaps there is a preservational bias against dinosaur
>pellets?


I thought owl pellet deposits were quite common fossils but only in the
younger fossil record (Pleistocene-Holocene). I have done some collecting
from owl accumulated deposits in caves at Jenolan. There are still owls
there today, adding to the top of the deposit. Deborah Morris did an
honours project on one of the deposit nad it turned out to be an
informative look at the small mammal fauna over the last 20 odd thousand
years.

Cheers,

Paul


Dr Paul M.A. Willis
Consulting Vertebrate Palaeontologist
Quinkana Pty Ltd
pwillis@ozemail.com.au