Researchers find out how wombats excrete poop cubes

An international team of scientists have been able to replicate how a wombat produces square poo – and this could change the way geometric products are made in the future.

Research published today in the journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry Soft matter, develops the discovery that wombat poop forms its distinctive shape in the wombat’s intestines, not at the exit point as previously thought.

They have now discovered that the slow passage of feces and the different stiffness in the last 17 percent of the intestines produces the square shape – before exiting through its round anus.

This finding is not only applicable to wombats – for example, cancer increases blood pressure in different regions of the colon and can produce feces of different shapes – but the technique can help scientists and engineers develop new ways to make flexible materials, such as plastics in geometry. shapes.

These learnings could also be applied to other areas such as clinical pathology and digestive health in other species, including humans.

University of Tasmania wildlife ecologist Dr Scott Carver made the accidental discovery while dissecting a corpse wombat as part of his primary research on treating scabies in wombats.

The cubed poop study focuses on bare-nosed (common) wombats, which are found primarily in Southeast Australia.

“Bare-nosed wombats are renowned for producing distinctive cube-shaped droppings. This ability to form relatively uniform and clean feces is unique in the animal kingdom, ”said Dr. Carver.

“They place these droppings in important places in their home range, such as around a rock or a log, to communicate with each other. Our research revealed that these cubes formed in the last sections of the tree. gut – and ultimately proves that you can insert a square peg into a round hole. “

Through a combination of lab tests and mathematical models, the researchers found that there are two rigid regions and two more flexible regions around the circumference of the wombat intestine.

David Hu, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said, “Creating this absolutely new mechanism on how you can form these wedges with a knife or sharp edges took a lot of iterations and now we have achieved this without using the wombat itself. “

The combination of the drying out of the feces in the distal colon and the muscle contractions form the regular size and corners of the feces.

Wombat’s intestines are around 10 meters long, ten times the length of a typical wombat’s body.

When humans eat, the food travels through the intestine in a day or two. The digestive process of a wombat takes up to four times as long to be able to extract all the nutritional content possible. They are also more efficient at extracting water from the intestines, their feces being a third drier than humans.

The results could be used to help inform the digestive health of the captive-managed wombat.

Cube formation can help us understand the hydration state of wombats, as their droppings may appear less cubic in more humid conditions. It also shows how intestinal stiffening can produce smooth sides as a feature of the body. pathology, ”said Dr. Carver.

“We now understand how these cubes are formed, but there is still a lot to learn about wombat behavior to fully understand why they evolved to produce cubes in the first place.”

Patricia Yang, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgia Tech, added that the research could have a number of uses. “We know, for example, that one of the first symptoms of colon cancer is that part of the colon can become stiff. It is then possible for this to form an unusual border or shape in the stool and could be an indicator. early colon health.

“I don’t know if people will be interested in cubic sausages in the future, but it could change the way we shape soft matter, or how we can handle soft robots, in the future.”

Laura Ghandhi, Development Editor Soft matter of the Royal Society of Chemistry said: “This is a great example of how interdisciplinary research and the passion to question everything can yield surprising and useful results. It also shows how creative approaches in science can inspire and spark a lifelong passion for research. “

The team of Australian and American scientists received an Ig Nobel Prize for “research that makes you laugh and then think” in 2019.