Paragraph
Power
LEXILE 890L
The
Amazing
Secrets of
Dino
It may seem crazy, but studying dinosaur poop
can help solve big mysteries.
microscope at her laboratory
in Colorado. She is a
rotted away. The bones were
are sometimes
the only things left.
the size of
If those bones—or in this
basketballs—and
paleontologist—a scientist who
case, poop—were out in the sun
it would take a
studies fossils. Fossils are the
and rain, they would rot as well.
large dinosaur to
remains of plants or animals
But if the bones or poop were
produce those.
that lived thousands or even
buried under mud or sand, they
millions of years ago.
would transform into rocks.
But Chin isn’t currently
Those rocks kept the shapes
Another clue is the
age of the rock. Dinosaurs
lived between 225 million
looking at a dinosaur bone or
of the original items. The
and 66 million years ago, so
the shell of a prehistoric turtle.
dinosaur skeletons you see
only rock formed during that
She’s looking at a special kind
at museums are actually
time period could contain
of fossil called a coprolite,
constructed from fossils.
dinosaur waste.
which is a fancy word for
But how does Chin know
By looking inside these
fossilized poop.
whether a coprolite came
fossils, Chin can tell whether
Yes, poop.
from a dinosaur? The first
a dinosaur ate plants or dined
Chin specializes in the
clue is its size. The coprolites
on meat. She has learned
largest coprolites of all:
the ones that came from
dinosaurs. “It might sound
other interesting facts from
Luckily for Karen Chin (below), poop
loses its smell when it becomes a fossil.
studying coprolites. For
example, the T. rex munched
funny,” Chin says, “but these
on the bones of the creatures
fossils do tell us a lot.”
it ate. And some snails and
What’s in a Fossil?
Before you get completely
beetles feasted on dinosaur
poop.
Much of what we know
grossed out, consider that
about the prehistoric world is
fossils are made mostly of
thanks to fossils and scientists
rock, not bones or poop.
like Chin who study them.
When dinosaurs died, their
skin, flesh, and other soft parts
18 October 2016 | Scholastic Action
And there’s nothing crazy
about that! •
© LOUIE PSIHOYOS
Karen Chin peers into a
saur Poop
Print This
Level
Activity:
Paragraph Writing
Yes, that’s
really a
giant—and
very old—
poop.
Lesson Plan
What can we learn from dinosaur poop?
Write a paragraph to answer this question. Get started by
using facts from the article to finish the sentences below.
Action
Activity
COURTESY OF THE ROYAL SASKATCHEWAN MUSEUM (FOSSILIZED POOP); SHUTTERSTOCK (T-REX)
Topic
Sentence
Detail 1
Detail 2
Detail 3
Conclusion
}
}
}
}
}
Karen Chin learns about dinosaurs and their world by
The main idea: How does Karen Chin learn about dinosaurs and their world?
A coprolite is
What is a coprolite?
Remember
to indent
the first
sentence!
Chin studies coprolites to find out
What does Chin hope to learn by studying dinosaur poop?
One thing Chin has learned is
Name one thing that Chin has learned from her work.
In conclusion,
What can coprolites teach us about dinosaurs and their world?
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www.scholastic.com/actionmag | October 2016 19