Latest news with #GeomuseumFaxe
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fish's Unwanted 66-Million-Year-Old Meal Lands in a Museum
Museums tend to show off the remnants of animal meals in the form of owl pellets or coprolites, but fish snacks—especially 66-million-year-old ones—are another story. A rare find from eastern Denmark depicts the immaculately fossilized remains of an ancient fish's meal, which it partially chewed and spat back out. The fossil is now on display at a Danish museum. Amateur fossil hunter Peter Bennicke found the rejected meal at Stevns Klint, a coastal cliff and UNESCO world heritage site known for its geological and archaeological treasures. Perfectly preserved in a block of chalk he'd split were a "strange little collection of sea lily pieces." Intrigued, Bennicke brought the fossil to Geomuseum Faxe, a natural history museum and research institution, for inspection. Paleontologist John Jagt determined that the sea lily remnants were once a fish's meal. Sea lilies, known formally as crinoids, are marine invertebrates that look much like the flower-bearing plants we see on land. They've become snacks for fish and fellow echinoderms for hundreds of millions of years—as far back as the Cambrian period—despite a protective mucous coating that makes them toxic to some predators. Credit: Sten Lennart Jakobsen This particular bunch of sea lilies had likely been munched by a hungry predator some 66 million years before Bennicke's chalky discovery. The fact that the sea lilies were in pieces suggested that this fish had chewed its snack before rejecting it. Still, the fossil wasn't technically vomit. Based on the integrity the individual pieces had managed to keep, the sea lilies never made it to the fish's digestive tract, and were instead spat out quickly after chewing. As the fish moved on, its unwanted food likely became lodged in marine sediment, where it fossilized over tens of millions of years. "It's really an unusual find," said Geomuseum Faxe curator Jesper Milàn in a translated statement. "Søliljer (sea lilies) are not a particularly nutrient-rich diet, as they mainly consist of limeplates that are held together by a few soft parts. But here is an animal, probably a kind of fish that 66 million years ago ate Søliljer, who lived on the bottom of the Cretaceous sea. Such a find provides important new knowledge about the relationship between predators and prey and the food chains in the Cretaceous seas."
CNN
29-01-2025
- Science
- CNN
66-million-year-old animal vomit discovered in Denmark
An amateur fossil hunter has uncovered a piece of animal vomit dating back 66 million years on a beach in Denmark. Peter Bennicke noticed a 'strange small cluster of lily pieces in a piece of chalk' at Stevns Klint in eastern Denmark, according to a statement from Geomuseum Faxe, a local museum where the find will be displayed, sent to CNN on Wednesday. Bennicke brought the fossil to the museum, where it was cleaned and examined by John Jagt, a lily expert from the Netherlands. Jagt said the cluster contains at least two species of lily combined in a round lump, which is likely the indigestible parts of the lilies that were regurgitated by an animal that ate the plants. 'In technical terms, this type of find is called regurgitalite, and they are considered very important when reconstructing ancient ecosystems because they provide valuable information about which animals were eaten by whom,' reads the statement. Jesper Milàn, curator at Geomuseum Faxe, said the fossil 'is truly an extraordinary find.' 'Lilies are not a particularly nutritious food, as they are mainly made up of calcium plates held together by very few soft tissues,' he said in the statement. 'But here we have an animal, most likely some kind of fish, that 66 million years ago ate lilies that lived on the seabed of the Cretaceous Sea and then vomited up the skeletal parts.' Milàn added that the discovery 'provides important new knowledge about the relationship between predators and prey and the food chains of the Cretaceous seas.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Amateur fossil hunter finds 66-million-year-old animal vomit
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. An amateur fossil hunter has uncovered a piece of animal vomit dating back 66 million years on a beach in Denmark. Peter Bennicke noticed a 'strange small cluster of lily pieces in a piece of chalk' at Stevns Klint in eastern Denmark, according to a statement from Geomuseum Faxe, a local museum where the find will be displayed, sent to CNN on Wednesday. Bennicke brought the fossil to the museum, where it was cleaned and examined by John Jagt, a lily expert from the Netherlands. Jagt said the cluster contains at least two species of lily combined in a round lump, which is likely the indigestible parts of the lilies that were regurgitated by an animal that ate the plants. 'In technical terms, this type of find is called regurgitalite, and they are considered very important when reconstructing ancient ecosystems because they provide valuable information about which animals were eaten by whom,' reads the statement. Jesper Milàn, curator at Geomuseum Faxe, said the fossil 'is truly an extraordinary find.' 'Lilies are not a particularly nutritious food, as they are mainly made up of calcium plates held together by very few soft tissues,' he said in the statement. 'But here we have an animal, most likely some kind of fish, that 66 million years ago ate lilies that lived on the seabed of the Cretaceous Sea and then vomited up the skeletal parts.' Milàn added that the discovery 'provides important new knowledge about the relationship between predators and prey and the food chains of the Cretaceous seas.'
CNN
29-01-2025
- Science
- CNN
66-million-year-old animal vomit discovered in Denmark
An amateur fossil hunter has uncovered a piece of animal vomit dating back 66 million years on a beach in Denmark. Peter Bennicke noticed a 'strange small cluster of lily pieces in a piece of chalk' at Stevns Klint in eastern Denmark, according to a statement from Geomuseum Faxe, a local museum where the find will be displayed, sent to CNN on Wednesday. Bennicke brought the fossil to the museum, where it was cleaned and examined by John Jagt, a lily expert from the Netherlands. Jagt said the cluster contains at least two species of lily combined in a round lump, which is likely the indigestible parts of the lilies that were regurgitated by an animal that ate the plants. 'In technical terms, this type of find is called regurgitalite, and they are considered very important when reconstructing ancient ecosystems because they provide valuable information about which animals were eaten by whom,' reads the statement. Jesper Milàn, curator at Geomuseum Faxe, said the fossil 'is truly an extraordinary find.' 'Lilies are not a particularly nutritious food, as they are mainly made up of calcium plates held together by very few soft tissues,' he said in the statement. 'But here we have an animal, most likely some kind of fish, that 66 million years ago ate lilies that lived on the seabed of the Cretaceous Sea and then vomited up the skeletal parts.' Milàn added that the discovery 'provides important new knowledge about the relationship between predators and prey and the food chains of the Cretaceous seas.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fossilized vomit found in Denmark dates back 66 million years — prehistoric puke hailed as national treasure
Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark. Or, rather, it did 66 million years ago, Danish scientists say, announcing the recent discovery of very old shark vomit on the country's Cliffs of Stevns — a coastal scenic spot one hour from Copenhagen. The prehistoric patch of puke sat there long enough to turn into a fossil — languishing in obscurity until an amateur sleuth made the gross and engrossing discovery last November. The strange story begins during the Cretaceous period, the New York Times reported, when a shark, or shark-like sea creature, apparently did not enjoy a meal of sea lilies. Sea lilies 'aren't that great to eat, because they are almost only skeleton,' Dr. Jesper Milàn, curator of Denmark's Geomuseum Faxe, which will showcase the previously unknown upchuck, told the Gray Lady. 'So they took what they could and threw up the rest,' he said. The putrid portal to the past was uncovered by local hunter Peter Bennicke, who had been prowling the white chalk cliffs, a UNESCO-listed geological site, for interesting finds. Dr. Milàn speculated to the paper that the suddenly-scrutinized spew could have come from a bottom-dwelling shark. John Jagt, a Dutch sea lily expert, in a written statement obtained by USA Today, concluded that the historic hurl was made up of 'two different species of sea lilies mixed into a clump.' The retro ralphings were primarily composed of the 'indigestible skeletal parts of their bodies,' the outlet reported. Experts say the funky find could shed new light on what life was like during the Cretaceous period. At the latter end of that time period, Europe was said to be a series of islands, due to higher sea levels. The scientific term for fossilized vomit is regurgitalite. Surprisingly, the timeless throw up is far from the oldest out there — Dr. Milàn said that Germany, for example, has laid claim to an even more historic spot of spit up, dating back 150 million years. The spew sample has already been classified by Denmark as an object of 'exceptional natural historical value.' That means the vomit belongs to Denmark — and is not for sale. 'This is the most famous piece of puke in the world,' Dr. Milàn told The Times.
