Wolf Coprolites

The coprolites (from the Greek kopros, "excrement", and lithos, "stone") are fossilised pieces of excrement. The only coprolites known are those of carnivores, and particularly carnivores who gnaw on bone, because the calcium in bone favours fossilisation. Human coprolites are rare, those of wolves more common, and those of hyena sometimes present in their hundreds. At Chauvet, only wolf coprolites have been found. One of these has made it possible to analyse the genome and diet of a specimen of wolf from 30,000 years ago.