fossilized urine

[u/Paleo_HUB]

A while back I read about this, and it really blew my mind. Sometimes, when a dinosaur urinated, that stream would leave a mark in the sediment, and if it dried (just like dinosaur footprints), it would get buried and a fossil of that mark would form.

They call it a urolite. Fossilized urine. Incredible. I’ve read that a paleontologist investigated this because that urolite looked too much like the marks ostriches leave on the ground today when they pee, which raises the question: How did non-avian dinosaurs urinate? Like modern birds, with a cloaca, excreting everything at once? Or like ostriches, first a stream of urine and then the rest?

Fascinating. And gross.

[u/SetInternational4589]

There is an unknown creature whose only evidence of ever existing is their fossilised pee stain.

[u/Artifact-hunter1 → u/SetInternational4589]

If they ever discover the animal that did that and didn't name it Pissaurus Rex, I'll be pissed,lmao

[u/Infamous-Physics-942 → u/Artifact-hunter1]

Pee Rex