poopology
n. Whimsical name given to the study of animal feces, particularly coprolites—the mineralized feces of a dinosaur or other ancient animal.
Etymology
Examples
2008
Taylor also is leading a hike from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Morgan Territory Regional Preserve east of Mount Diablo. The theme is "poopology," that is to say the group will hunt for scat, tracks, game trails and other signs of the preserve's abundant wildlife.
—“Time to strap up your hiking boots,” Contra Costa Times (California), February 15, 2008
2005
For five zookeepers from Hogtown, yesterday was to have been spent learning about everything from giraffe management to "poopology" at the opening day of the annual conference for the American Association of Zookeepers in New Orleans.
—Scott Roberts, “Toronto zookeepers in storm exodus,” The Toronto Star, August 29, 2005
1998 (earliest)
The 7.1-kilogram rock has been identified as the mineralized fecal remains left behind when a tyrannosaurus…relieved itself in a river delta 65 million years ago….'It is the birth of the science of [comparative] poopology,' Stanford University paleontologist and co-author Gregory Erickson said of the find's significance.
—Stephen Strauss, “Birth of a science: comparative poopology,” The Globe and Mail, June 18, 1998
Filed Under