The are museums for everything. The Idaho Potato Museum in the US, the Derwent Pencil Museum in England’s Lake District – and now the Poozeum, home to the world’s largest collection of fossilised dinosaur poop.
You’ll find George Frandsen's newly opened museum in Williams, a small town in northern Arizona. The record-breaking compendium of 8,000 pieces of coprolite, the scientific name for fossilised faeces, includes the largest carnivore coprolite ever found.
“Initially, many people react with a ‘yuck’ face or laughter when they first hear about the Poozeum,” Frandsen said in an interview with Guinness World Records.
“However, after witnessing the collection, their reactions often shift to shock at the diverse and intriguing nature of coprolites.”
“Given that most people have little to no experience with coprolites, it’s enjoyable to introduce them to this fascinating world and share the wonders they hold.”
The collection includes not only the world’s largest collection of coprolite but also one of the biggest individual pieces ever found. A colossal 67.5 centimetres long and 15.7 centimetres wide, Frandsen thinks the giant specimen came from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The Poozeum was originally created by Frandsen as an online resource in 2014. It proved so popular that a few years later the poop enthusiast quit his job, sold his house and moved 2,000 miles to Williams to fulfil his dream to open a permanent museum.
“These peculiar prehistoric ‘time capsules’ offer direct insights into the diets, behaviours and environments of ancient creatures,” said Frandsen.
The Poozeum is free to visit and has a gift shop – so you can take a piece of fossilised poop home with you. “It's instructive entertainment at its finest, and is suitable for visitors of all ages,” says the website.
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