“A new study of 30 million-year-old fossilized mega-dung balls, as big as three inches (seven centimeters) in diameter and produced from the dung of extinct giant South American mammals, reveals that the dung was also a food source for a number of insects that would steal a bite while the dung beetles weren't looking. “Traces [in the fossilized dung] record the behavior of animals actively stealing the food resources set aside by the dung beetles,” said Victoria Sanchez, a graduate student at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires and a co-author on the study. “The shapes and sizes of these fossilized burrows and borings in the dung balls indicate that other beetles, flies and earthworms were the culprits.
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Fossilized poo reveals ancient ecosystem
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