Scientists get to the bottom of how wombats produce square poo

Wombats pictured on the front of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Soft Matter, which includes ground-breaking research into why they do square poos
Royal Society of Chemistry
Robert Dex @RobDexES29 January 2021

One of the natural world’s great mysteries - how wombats produce square poo - has finally been solved.

An international team of scientists have been able to replicate the process and published their research in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s aptly named journal Soft Matter.

Previous theories including the notion that the animal, native to Australia, shaped its faeces with its paws or that it had a square shaped anus have been discounted.

The research instead showed the differing stiffness of the creature’s intestines, which at around 10-metres long are ten times the length of the average wombat’s body, produced the distinctive shape.

The research could have wider ramifications and it is hoped it could help engineers develop new ways of making plastics in geometrical shapes.

University of Tasmania wildlife ecologist Dr Scott Carver made the accidental discovery while dissecting a wombat cadaver as part of his research into treating mange the creatures.

He said their ability to produce “distinctive, cube-shaped poos” made them “unique in the animal kingdom”.

He added: "They place these faeces at prominent points in their home range, such as around a rock or a log, to communicate with each other. Our research found that these cubes are formed within the last sections of the intestine – and finally proves that you really can fit a square peg through a round hole."

The team of Australian and US scientists were awarded an Ig Nobel prize for "research that makes you laugh then think" in 2019.

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