Usually talking about poop is weird because it’s smelly and disgusting. But some animal droppings can be interesting – and funny, too. Here are five animals with strange toilet habits – ranging from poop cubes to cooling themselves with feces on hot days.

Wombat poop cubes

Wombats are furry mammals native to Australia. Can you believe they poop cubes? Researchers discovered that their cube-shaped droppings are shaped by their intestines, which contract and slowly shape the corners of the cube.

Wombats take almost four times as long as humans to digest food. As a result, their droppings are much drier and retain the shape of a cube.

Rabbits eat poop

Rabbits have two types of droppings: caecotrophs and fecal pellets. Fecal pellets are grape-sized balls of dry poop. Caecotrophs are even smaller, moist balls that rabbits can eat!

Caecotrophs are full of nutrients that may actually be good for rabbit health and nutrition. However, they might overproduce this type of droppings if they consume a lot of sugar.

Lazy people poop once a week

Sloths are known to be very slow when moving. Their pooping behavior is no different! Scientists think the reason sloths poop once a week is because they want to spend the least amount of time on the ground. They just poop on the floor, but they are vulnerable here. Therefore, they try to spend most of their time on a tree to be safe.

Parrot fish droppings make sand

The droppings of this sea creature make up the beautiful sand of the famous beaches of the US state of Hawaii.

In fact, a parrot fish’s diet includes coral. As their bodies break down the coral, the droppings come out as sand.

Turkey vultures stay cool with their droppings

This bird species is found in southern North America. They poop a white colored liquid. Their droppings are very acidic and can therefore kill germs from the flesh they have eaten. Turkey vultures also poop on their feet to cool off on hot days. Their liquid stools can evaporate and cool their blood vessels.

Use the puzzle below to test your knowledge of the vocabulary words from the story.

Suggested answers

Before reading: Answers may vary (poop regularly, poop of good consistency, poop without pain, limited bloating).

Stop and think: Sloths must poop on the ground, but being on the ground makes them vulnerable to predators. They therefore stay in the trees most of the time and only come down to do their business. This keeps them safe.

Consider: Turkey vultures will poop on their legs to kill germs and clean their paws, because their droppings contain good bacteria. Their droppings also cool their bodies and blood vessels, so they tend to put their droppings on their bodies when it’s hot.