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Dinosaur Poop Sold at Auction, Meteorite Snubbed
Would you rather own an ancient meteorite or a piece of fossilized dinosaur poop? If you picked the poop, you're not alone. Both were on sale at an auction in New York City last week, and nobody bought the meteorite.
The space rock for sale was 4.5 billion years old. It was discovered in China by someone who sat on it to eat lunch before he realized he was on a very rare rock. Meteorites come from outer space and crash into the Earth. Usually, they burn up in the atmosphere, but about 500 a year actually make it all the way to the ground. Of those, only five or six are found. They usually sell for a lot of money. The owner of the 925-pound meteorite at the auction was hoping he'd get over 2 million dollars.
Nobody was looking to spend that kind of money. But someone did pay $960 for coprolites. Coprolite is a Greek word that means rock dung. It's also known as fossilized dinosaur poop. The pieces at the auction were 140 million years old.
The new owner of the coprolite is a 71-year-old man from Ohio who has a business that gets rid of dog and cat waste. He bought the coprolite to show at trade shows and get attention for his business.
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in science this week!
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