Remnants of prehistoric beasts are top-ticket items at auctions worldwide. Objects ranging from eggs to imprints of their skin have found new homes in museums and private collections. But a new paleontological oddity has made its way to auction, and it’s a biggie: a coprolite, or piece of fossilized feces, that is allegedly the longest ever to go on sale.
The fossil is being auctioned by the I. M. Chait gallery in Los Angeles, California. It was uncovered in a formation in Washington State that dates back to the Miocene and Oligocene epochs, between 33 and 5 million years ago.
Here’s the gallery’s full description for your reading pleasure:
Feces become coprolites when they are petrified, or when the organic material is replaced with minerals. Paleontologists have found coprolites of lots of different animals, including dinosaurs, cats, and even humans. Typically the petrification process takes a few thousand years, but you can get your hands on this one for an estimated $8,000-$10,000. Have your credit card ready.
Correction: an earlier version of this post suggested that the coprolite came from a dinosaur’s rear end. Since dinosaurs died out long before this item was excreted, it is obviously the output of some other creature.