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Scientists find prehistoric shark puke dating back 66 million years

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

News cannot always be decorous. Paleontologist Jesper Milan told the BBC this week about what he describes as, quote, "the world's most famous piece of puke ever." The antediluvian expulsion, examined by the Museum of East Zealand, is believed to be 66 million years old and was discovered in a fossil at a UNESCO World Heritage site in eastern Denmark.

The ancient spew seems to be pieces of sea lily - an underwater species related to sea urchins - buried in pieces of chalk. Fish and shark would eat sea lilies and then expel the chalk. I mean, wouldn't you?

While Tyrannosaurus rex prowled the world above the oceans, gorging on other dinosaurs, sharks patrolled the oceans, eating sea lilies and disgorging. Professor Milan says it tells us something about who was eating who 66 million years ago. I guess that's called the cycle of life.

(SOUNDBITE OF GENE HARRIS AND THE THREE SOUNDS' "BABY MAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Scott Simon is one of America's most admired writers and broadcasters. He is the host of Weekend Edition Saturday and is one of the hosts of NPR's morning news podcast Up First. He has reported from all fifty states, five continents, and ten wars, from El Salvador to Sarajevo to Afghanistan and Iraq. His books have chronicled character and characters, in war and peace, sports and art, tragedy and comedy.