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Detailed examination of fossilized dung, technically known as coprolites, from plant-eating dinosaurs revealed two surprising things: large amounts of rotten wood, and crab shells. The coprolite producers, probably duck-billed dinosaurs are usually considered to be herbivores, and this behavior might have been related to egg-laying.

Ichthyosaurs, meaning ‘fish lizards’, are a bizarre group of ancient marine reptiles that went extinct around 90 million years ago. They looked suspiciously similar to dolphins, but are only very, very distantly related to the modern mammals. They captivated the attention of scientists and the public alike due to numerous discoveries by Victorian palaeontologist, Mary Anning, who collected dozens of skeletons from the Dorset coast in the UK.

Fossils as we know them are preserved remains that rarely tell the full story of the creatures that lived in the past. Softer details like skin, feathers, or internal tissues are typically lost due to decomposition. Follow paleontologist Mary Schweitzer as she discovered how soft tissues were preserved inside a dinosaur bone for tens of millions of years.