I have poop on the brain today. Someone gave my 6-month old son Jack a copy of Everyone Poops even though we’re nowhere near that stage yet. Still, it’s a fascinating book, and got me thinking about how little I know about poop. While the following facts aren’t found in Gomi’s book, they’re still pretty nifty.
1. Bird poop is white because birds can’t pee. Their kidneys work like ours do, but instead of producing urine, birds excrete a white paste. The paste, along with what comes out of the intestines, unites and is excreted through the bird’s cloaca, a multi-purpose hole which means sewer in Latin. And, yes, by multi-purpose, I mean they even mate through it.
2. Many dogs eat poop. This I know because, sadly, my dog used to eat his own poop on occasion. What I didn’t know was that eating poop has a name: coprophagy, and is, of course, more popular with dung beetles than dogs. If your dog eats his/her own feces, one way to discourage the behavior (other than immediately cleaning up after your dog) is to douse the poop with hot sauce or vinegar.
3. The reason why some poops float is because they have a lot of gas in them. Rather than coming out as flatulence, the gas gets stuck in the poop and forces it to the surface of the water. If there’s a lot of fat in your diet, likewise your poop might float.
4. Cavemen were better equipped to chew and digest many plants and vegetables. They had larger molars and longer digestive tracts better at handling foods rich in indigestible cellulose, like, er, corn, for instance. Evolution has worked against our ability to chew and digest corn, which is why when some kernels get swallowed whole they appear in poop.
5. The word poop comes from the Middle English word poupen or popen, which used to be the root of the word we now call a fart. Clearly poop has onomatopoeic origins.
I used to have this book when I was a kid, check out another great translated Japanese book, The Gas We Pass
posted by Alex L on 2-21-2008 at 4:30 am
my oh my, now that is some kind of conversation for first thing in the morning. HA!
posted by c.a. Marks on 2-21-2008 at 5:05 am
Thank you for enlightening me on a subject I knew so little about.
posted by Person on 2-21-2008 at 5:09 am
Excellent post, please do more gross stuff like that in the future. -
posted by jb west on 2-21-2008 at 6:04 am
This reminds me of an episode of Family Guy:
Peter: “I’m looking for some toilet training books.”
Salesman: “We have the popular “Everybody Poops”, or the less popular “Nobody Poops but You”.”
Peter: “Well, you see, we’re Catholic…”
Salesman: “Ah, then you’ll want “You’re a Naughty, Naughty Boy, and That’s Concentrated Evil Coming Out the Back of You”.”
posted by Brittany on 2-21-2008 at 7:32 am
The picture for #1 is excellent.
posted by bryn on 2-21-2008 at 7:47 am
Beat me to it, Brittany!
posted by Roger on 2-21-2008 at 7:56 am
You forgot to mention what happens when the poop hits the fan.
posted by Jud on 2-21-2008 at 7:57 am
It happens.
posted by Witty Nickname on 2-21-2008 at 8:03 am
Well, I did learn new somethings about poop.
As far as birds go there is a reason you should have your eggs cooked well done, and not raw.
One word… cloaca
posted by Silgid on 2-21-2008 at 8:42 am
My son got this for Christmas and he loves it. He calls it “go go poops”. We’ve also gotten “The Potty Train” and “Does A Pig Flush”. Great books, but none of which has helped the training problem.
And I do love the Family Guy episode mentioned above.
posted by beth on 2-21-2008 at 8:44 am
Rabbits eat their poop! Actually they have 2 poops – fecal poops and cecotropes. They eat the cecotropes as soon as they come out of their butts!
posted by zantimisfit on 2-21-2008 at 8:53 am
Ew. :)
No offense to David, but what happened to Morning Cup o’ Links? I enjoyed reading that at work in the morning–I hope it’s just a temporary vacation.
Sorry if this was announced and I missed it!
posted by kate on 2-21-2008 at 9:01 am
i love this topic cause i know so little about it, and yet its always a cause for jokes and is actually kinda interesting…
i have a bumper sticker of a cartoon monkey that says ‘i fling poo’…i think that sums it up nicely…
posted by donner on 2-21-2008 at 9:11 am
Poop also floats when you’re losing weight, because your body is taking out the extra fat. It might be more gross than checking the scale, but its true.
posted by caroline on 2-21-2008 at 9:17 am
Thanks for sharing.
posted by Marc Savoy on 2-21-2008 at 10:13 am
I feel so well informed now. Thank you. Oh my gosh, I am almost an authority on poop.And they said I wouldn’t amount to anything!!! =)
posted by Mary1440 on 2-21-2008 at 10:17 am
Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker that said “I’m only speeding because I really have to poop” and it was some respectable looking soccer mom driving a nice Lexus SUV.
posted by holly on 2-21-2008 at 10:26 am
My dad has a favorite joke::
What is the green stuff in the middle of bird poop?
Bird poop.
Yeah, I didn’t think it was funny either.
posted by Pearl on 2-21-2008 at 10:30 am
zantimisfit* Yeah I had rabbits and those little things that look like Raisinets are chock full of vitamins. Bunnies love ‘em! Nom nom nom.
posted by Johnny Cat on 2-21-2008 at 10:51 am
I have heard that meat tenderizer will also keep a dog from eating his own poop. Not sure if you put it on the food first, or on the poop after.
And I have a Lebanese friend who used to curse at his co-workers that they should “kiss a chicken’s cloaca”. Now I understand a little better why that would be considered unpleasant.
posted by kdub on 2-21-2008 at 11:24 am
Coprolites are fossilized poop. In undergrad my prof passed around some coprolites and then after we had all touched them, told us what they were. I mean they were fossilized so there were no germs or anything, but it was still gross.
posted by stephW on 2-21-2008 at 11:53 am
Re: Silgid’s comment about eggs – If you’re worried about it, you can wash your eggs first (and your hands). It’s only the outside of the shell that goes there; the tasty insides should be fine. I got that from a docotral student in microbiology who studies bacteria etc.
posted by Evan on 2-21-2008 at 12:06 pm
Just saw a can of poop in the Museum of Modern Art. My son thought it was hysterical! The artist is named Piero Manzoni, and you can see a picture of it on the MoMA web site.
posted by tpal on 2-21-2008 at 12:21 pm
More tidbits about poop:
In Arizona there are caves full of giant sloth dung that have been burning (actually smoldering) for decades and will continue so for more decades – LOTS of sloth dung.
I’ve had a number of dogs who would graze in the catbox. Disgusting? Yes. I never let them lick my face.
Many cultures use dried poop as fuel. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable eating with them.
posted by Doc on 2-21-2008 at 1:13 pm
I liked the picture for #3. You guys are good.
posted by B on 2-21-2008 at 1:24 pm
Nice. I once gave my younger brother a homemade birthday card with the picture from #1 on it, and I wrote, “Don’t have another crappy birthday.”
posted by Colin GG on 2-21-2008 at 2:39 pm
Another interestingly poopy tidbit; leopard geckos don’t pee.
My kids kept a leopard gecko for a while. All it ate was crickets, and it would leave two different kinds of droppings; big crickety brown ones and little white/yellow ones. Leopard geckos are native to desert areas, and excrete what would be urine in solid form to conserve water. Neat trick, eh?
posted by Dave on 2-21-2008 at 3:05 pm
Yeah, the dog thing is disgusting. Luckily the pet stores have numerous products that you can use to train your dog not to eat it. You usually put it on the food (spray or powder), and it makes the feces taste bitter to the dog. Sort of like the polish to prevent nail biting.
Also, certain breeds are more prone to doing this than others.
posted by MW on 2-21-2008 at 3:08 pm
I’ve got that book memorized. But I did think that the “A one hump camel makes a one hump poop… A two hump camel makes a two hump poop” enjoyable, I wish the rest of the book was just as clever.
posted by Tereasa on 2-21-2008 at 3:40 pm
Chiming in here: yes, some dogs eat their own poop — usually a sign of mineral deficiency, they like kittybox crunchies though because they are very high in tasty fat — kitties need fat to get the energy for the big pounce but their bodies also excrete a lot of it now that they’re hanging around the house more than their ancestors. DO NOT however put meat tenderizer in your dog’s food! There is already a ton of crap (in many cases literally) in your dog’s food and MSG has a more concentrated effect on them than it does on you and your non-furry kids.
Another great book is What’s Your Poop Telling You (it’s for grown ups and written in a hip adult style — check out The Monster Poop) and if you realllllly want to get into poop, visit the Dr. Natura website — you will never look at poop the same way again! *willies*
David Hochman’s Potty Train (Chugga Chugga Poo Poo!) is awesome! As a former nanny — this book ROCKS and David is a really great guy to boot. Buy this book!
I’m glad you posted about poop and that it showed up on reddit!
posted by abbyandcat on 2-21-2008 at 6:21 pm
Evan:
Actually, the egg shell is porous, which means that bacteria from the outside can penetrate the shell, which is why i always cook my eggs through! The permeable quality of the shell causes air to leak into the egg over time. This is why an old egg will float and a fresh one will sink. This is an old trick to tell if eggs are fresh or not.
Interesting bit about poop.
I have been popping on this site for quite some time, but this is the first time I felt truly compelled to comment…I wonder what that says about me?!?!?
posted by wellymom on 2-21-2008 at 7:46 pm
just want to chime in that 95% of dried dung is bacteria….AWESOME!
posted by Ingrid on 2-21-2008 at 8:26 pm
My brother kept a list of 100 different kinds of poop –
The Corn Poopy
The Ghost Poopy (you know you did it, but it’s not there…)
The Pencil Poopy
The Pebble Poopy
The Plug Poopy
The Bomb Poopy….
We would laught so hard and usually come up with more to add to his list. Wonder whatever happened to that list…
posted by Liz on 2-21-2008 at 9:49 pm
People are gettin’ rather squirmy about the egg-bacteria thing… well, then let’s not get into how there are actual bits of bug in practically everything we eat… hehehehe…
posted by tona b. on 2-21-2008 at 10:01 pm
Yes, that was good. I’d like more facts like these!
posted by Stephanie on 2-21-2008 at 10:18 pm
If you find weavels or bugs in food like flour or nuts that have been stored for a long time in an airtight container, did you eat them before you saw them? Must have, they dont open the container themselves! hehehe
posted by Galli on 2-22-2008 at 2:03 am
That bird poop joke was hilarious! It even made me shed a tear.
posted by Luis on 2-22-2008 at 2:07 am
Should I feel disturbed, or happy, for having known all that in advance?
Great post nonetheless, the pictures were amazing, and Brittany’s joke’s been told in the office here.
posted by Morghus on 2-22-2008 at 2:08 am
http://www.ratemypoop.com
posted by Justin on 2-22-2008 at 2:37 am
in developing/third world, dog eating human poop is still very common.
posted by ell on 2-22-2008 at 3:42 am
I think this calls for a “5 Things I Didn’t Know About Vomit” follow up article.
posted by Brad Brown on 2-22-2008 at 5:36 am
Thought I’d add that, actually, an animal that eats its own feces is not just “coprophagus”, it is “AUTOcoprophagus”.
“Coprophagy” means to eat feces. “Autocoprophagy” means to eat one’s own feces.
Ahhh… Bio102, thy served me well…
posted by itr on 2-22-2008 at 5:55 am
Ya Know,it’s kinda interesting and I’m glad I read it.But I wonder when I’ll be able to toss these little tidbits of knowledge out to others….Maybe the next dinner party I attend…LOL
posted by Scott on 2-22-2008 at 6:14 am
Sweet family guy reference
posted by Frankenstein on 2-22-2008 at 6:37 am
Actually, bird poop is not white. The black specks in the white mass is the poop. The rest is urine and such.
posted by lauri on 2-22-2008 at 6:44 am
LOL at the bird poop joke
It’s a very cold joke alright
posted by vkeong on 2-22-2008 at 7:45 am
It seems to me that the origin of the word does not come from English at all. It is Dutch, where the words poep (pronounce poop) for the stuff and poepen (’poopeh’) for the action still exist and are commonly used.
Sailors may have spread the word.
posted by JeeMiNee on 2-22-2008 at 7:48 am
Check out http://www.poopdiary.com
posted by Scoboose on 2-22-2008 at 7:50 am
What’s brown and sticky?
A stick!
posted by Tommy on 2-22-2008 at 8:06 am
i lov poop.
posted by pepper on 2-22-2008 at 8:19 am
Ladybugs eat their poop just like rabbits. I had one on my finger (a lady bug not a poop) I just happened to have a magnifying glass near by. I was looking very closely at the ladybug when all of a sudden……… ???? yep it pooped. It pooped right on my finger, then immediately turned around and gobbled it up. It was a light yellow color. Some people don’t know it but ladybugs bite too. I don’t think they bite out of fear or from trying to protect themselves, I think they are eating dead skin and they go a little too deep. Or maybe I DID have some poop on my finger and it was eating out that day?
posted by clawdiuslimcatius on 2-22-2008 at 8:47 am
About the dog poop. Dogs (mostly puppies) will eat there own poo for two reasons. 1: because they are having a digestive problem. Dogs sense of smell works differently then ours. Instead of a flat smell like a sandwich, they can smell all the components. So if they still smell food in there they might go in for seconds. 2: they are ashamed of it (which is the same reason they will poo in random hidden places. This is because the owner did not know what they were getting into when they got a puppy/dog and negatively reinforces non-desirable behavior.
posted by rocksauce on 2-22-2008 at 9:39 am
Actually, poop floats because it has fat in it. It’s the fat that floats. If you don’t eat a lot of fatty food throughout the day, your poop will sink.
posted by anonymous on 2-22-2008 at 9:42 am
what i want to know is why people are so fascinated with poop. When i was much younger, my friends and i went through a phase were we used the word feces a lot, saying things like “don’t make me fling feces at you!” or “your breath smells fecal”. Also, we would discuss/brag about our fecal deposits. I think it was because we found ridiculous behavior funny. But does anyone have an opinion on why people find poop so fascinating/humorous?
posted by gary on 2-22-2008 at 11:03 am
It seems to me that people find their waste fascinating because they actually make it – we create it with no help from anyone else. An even though it is an uncoiscious creative process, still, there it is. if only it wasn’t so repulsive…
I read somewhere that a company in Japan was marketing a pill that coudl be taken with meals that would eliminate all waste odor!
posted by Keeker on 2-22-2008 at 11:31 am
Very interesting, and as a fan of all things fecal, I must congratulate you on this bit of turd wisdom. The last pic rocked! Feel free to check out one man’s adventures with poo here: http://www.adventuresindefecation.com.
posted by Poopmaster on 2-22-2008 at 12:27 pm
…and to quote a great one from Monty Python… What’s brown and sounds like a bell? Dung.
posted by ingrid on 2-22-2008 at 12:41 pm
My dog likes to eat fresh horse poop. It’s gross, but he likes it.
posted by Patrick on 2-22-2008 at 1:14 pm
I just feel bad for the kid in that pigeon picture.
posted by Marina on 2-22-2008 at 2:42 pm
Two birds, one cup!
posted by ZygnTwin on 2-22-2008 at 3:52 pm
number 1 isn’t entirely true. Birds produce urine and feces. However instead of producing urine containing urea like we do they produce uric acid, which is a highly water conserving type of urine and as a result comes out white and pasty instead of a clearish liquid. Bird poop is actually the black pellets that can be seen throughout the white pasty bird urine. Birds do produce urine its just not the same chemical compound of urine that humans produce.
posted by Tony on 2-22-2008 at 3:54 pm
“You forgot to mention what happens when the poop hits the fan.”
Back in the wild west days, they had holes in th ceilings at the bar, to vent hot air up into the rooms of the hotels… And when electric fans came out, the bars had them installed at those vent holes, which just happened to be on the hall floor where the rooms are…
Back then if you ate meat at a hotel, you likely got the shits from the extremely unsanitary conditions in bar kitchens, and a lack of proper refrigeration, and a serious lack of proper food handling… That, and the filthy buggy beer from dirty taps, and dirty glasses.. so if you ate and drank in a bar of the wild west days you very likely got food poisoning, and the shits…
So this drunk, who ate at the bar, staggers up the stairs to his room, and his sore stomach rumbles and pangs.. and he just can’t hold it any longer.. sees that hole in the floor.. doesn’t know where it goes.. only knows it’s convenient.. drops his drawers, and squats over the vent hole, and lets ‘er rip.. liquid poo…
Downstairs, in the bar, his shit hits the fan, and everybody scatters…
A local townsfolk is walking-up to the hotel, when he sees a grouchy fellow standing in the horse trough,cussing to beat hell, washing up, and smelling a lot like shit… The guy standing in the trough, seeing the clean fellow, asks, “Where were you when the shit hit the fan”..
“What happens when the poo hits the fan..?”
All the bar-room patrons scatter…
posted by Cosmicbrat on 2-22-2008 at 8:52 pm
In topic, “new stuff about poo stuff”…
Here’s one that might help a lot of folks out of their grief with pimples…
It’s fact that most pimples are actually an infection caused by poop on the skin
Wash Your Hands!..
Here’s another one that the medical industry hides from you, so they can suck your money from you…
You know that horrid “yeast infection” disease..? Also called “vaginitis”…
Well it’s caused from getting trace poop in the vagina… Happens when the dinkie slips-out, and touches the rectum, and is reinserted with trace poop on it… Next day she’s feeling a crawly itch in her puss…
Another way to infect the puss with poo is for a lass to wipe from the bum hole across the vag, in economizing toilet paper… That’s how little girls get vaginitis…
As soon as me and my mate realized this, she hasn’t had a single bout of vaginitis for many years now…
Poop causes “swollen tongue taste buds”, Cataracts in the eyes, wounds not healing, acne, vaginitis, various cancers, boils, and sores…
Because so many people don’t wash their hands after using the toilet, everything in the public domain is literally coated, and recoated daily, with a thin layer of human poop…
Wash your hands kiddies!..
posted by Cosmicbrat on 2-22-2008 at 9:06 pm
Actually corn (maize) poop comes out like that because of the lack of a process called nixtamalization during preparation. This was developed by the Aztecs and Mayans to fully release the nutritional value out of corn.
Western civilizations never properly learned about this process until recently so their bodies never developed the ability to absorb the nutrients, which resulted in severe malnutrition in civilizations that adopted maize as their primary grain source.
Our bodies were never effectively able to digest corn, just like how our bodies never properly developed the ability to digest grass.
posted by SOhp101 on 2-22-2008 at 9:28 pm
I picked a bad time to introduce my mom to Mental_floss. (haha) j/k
posted by Tdave on 2-22-2008 at 10:44 pm
I learned in a Human Physiology course that humans have so much bacteria in their colons, that a third of every poop is dead bacteria carcass. Which is quite a bit if you think about it.
posted by Dave on 2-23-2008 at 2:26 pm
All I have to say is, who gives a $hit?
posted by BigE on 2-23-2008 at 3:30 pm
OMG – we were just talking about the corn scenario jus the other day at work (it was a really bad day at work). I now need to forward this to everyone.
posted by Beth on 2-23-2008 at 7:01 pm
I believe another, and perhaps more simply reason why the corn is not being digested is because it isn’t being fully digested, particularly in the CHEWING stage of food assimilation. Many modern people have forgotten that they need to actually chew their food into a liquid-paste before actually swallowing it.
Who-da thunk it?
posted by BrownRabbit on 2-26-2008 at 1:04 am
HAHAHAHA!!!!
posted by Samy on 3-3-2008 at 8:18 am
The best thing to do if your dog eats poop is “do not let him lick your face”.
posted by Keyser Söze on 4-18-2008 at 12:58 pm
your a pretty funny guy are you single?
posted by amy on 7-12-2009 at 11:40 am
i have a gross facts book and in it it said that the gas in your poop is the same gas you put in your car and it also says when you fart it stinks because the bad stomach assid go’s threw your butt.
posted by amy on 7-12-2009 at 11:48 am