The Poozeum is a museum in
Williams, Arizona, dedicated to
coprolites (fossilized feces). It was founded in 2014 as a website and resource center by George Frandsen, who owns the world's largest collection of coprolites. Pieces from Frandsen's collection served as a traveling exhibition before the Poozeum opened its physical location in 2024.
The Poozeum includes 8,000 coprolites, including Barnum, the largest coprolite by a carnivore to have been discovered, a 9.28 kg (20.5 lb) specimen believed to have been pooped by a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Background
Poozeum founder George Frandsen began collecting
coprolites as an 18-year-old, purchasing his first piece of fossilized feces from a rock and fossil store in
Moab, Utah.[1][2] He expanded his collection over the years, and by 2016 it included 1,277 specimens and was recognized as the largest collection of its kind in the world, earning it a
Guinness World Record.[3] By 2021, the collection had grown to 5,000 coprolites. To differentiate coprolites from rocks, Frandsen examines their shape, size, surface texture, contents/inclusions, location, and chemistry.[4]
The museum
Frandsen was motivated to establish the Poozeum due to the paucity of coprolite representation in museums.[2] The Poozeum was established as an online gallery in 2014. Frandsen, then based in Florida, would also lend his coprolites to museums as a travelling exhibition.[5][6][7] In 2024, Frandsen quit his corporate job, sold his house, and moved to Arizona to open a physical museum for the collection.[8]
The Poozeum Museum & Gift Shop
The Poozeum opened in
Williams, Arizona, along
Route 66, on May 18, 2024.[9] It has the slogan, "#1 for fossilized #2",[5] and bills itself as the "world's premier dinosaur poop museum and gift shop", selling dinosaur-themed merchandise.[9] The museum includes a replica of
Titanosaur poop, measuring 4 ft (1.2 m) in length.[10] Aside from the collection of coprolites, the museum has a bronze statue of a Tyrannosaurus rex squatting on a toilet. The statue, named The Stinker, is a nod to
Auguste Rodin's The Thinker.[11]
The Poozeum holds Frandsen's collection, which as of 2024 numbers 8,000 coprolites.[9] It includes coprolites dating from 10,000 years ago to 400
mya. The coprolites range in size from tiny pebble-sized specimens to a behemoth weighing over 9 kg (20 lb).[5] The collection includes crocodilian coprolites as well as those from dinosaurs.[12]
Barnum, the largest carnivore coprolite
Barnum, believed to have been pooped by a Tyrannosaurus rex, is the largest known coprolite from a carnivore.
The coprolite Barnum is the largest known specimen from a carnivore.[2] Dating from the
Late Cretaceous,[13] it is believed to have come from a Tyrannosaurus rex[14][15] and was discovered in the
Hell Creek Formation on a ranch near
Buffalo, South Dakota.[13] It was given the name Barnum after paleontologist
Barnum Brown, who discovered the T. Rex, and the American showman
P. T. Barnum.[16] The coprolite is 67.5 cm (26.6 in) long by 15.7 cm (6.2 in) wide and weighs 9.28 kg (20.5 lb).[17] An
X-ray fluorescence analysis of the specimen showed the presence of phosphorous and calcium in significant amounts. It also contains a high percentage of crushed bone inclusions. Barnum holds the Guinness World Record for being the "world's largest fossilized excrement from a carnivore".[6]
Other coprolites
Frandsen purchased a coprolite found near
Summerville, South Carolina, with bite marks from an online vendor. The apparently unpalatable specimen was consistent with the shape and size of coprolites of crocodilians.[18]
Precious, a 1.92 kg (4.2 lb) coprolite, is the largest true-to-form coprolite ever discovered.[19]
Gallery
Coprolites from the Poozeum
The Kraken, a coprolite from the
Miocene weighing 1.056 kg (2.33 lb)
Precious, a 1.92 kg (4.2 lb) coprolite that would be over 254 mm (10.0 in) long were it unbent
A coprolite containing a complete toe bone from a Leptomeryx, a small deer-like ruminant
A coprolite with distinct bite marks, possibly from a prehistoric gar fish
^Godfrey, Stephen J.; Frandsen, George (March 2016).
"Vertebrate-Bitten Coprolite from South Carolina". The Ecphora. 31 (1). Calvert Marine Museum Fossil Club: 12–14.
Archived from the original on July 1, 2024. Retrieved July 8, 2024.