Poop

Elite athletic training can take a toll on gastric health. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Just about every living thing does it, though for many people the subject is distasteful or taboo. But poop is an important indicator of everyday gut health; it can provide vital clues about digestive disorders, or may contain bacteria that can treat them. Poop also plays an unsung role in ecosystems and animal diets, providing essential nutrients that benefit organisms of all sizes. Here's where you're find the latest poop on poop.

Latest about poop

An Andean condor chick in a nest surrounded by guano.

Scientists discovered a 2,200-year-old condor poop pile in the Andes. Here's what it told them.

By Jennifer Nalewicki published

Scientists dug into a 2,200-year-old pile of Andean condor poop to study the species’ diet and changes in habitat.

Jewel damselfish are becoming less territorial and less aggresive due to the presence of invasive rats on nearby islands.

Invasive rats are changing how reef fish behave. It's because there's not enough bird poop.

By Harry Baker published

Jewel damselfish living on coral reefs surrounding rat-infested tropical islands have become less territorial and less aggressive due to a bizarre ecological link between the two species: bird poop.

Person standing in front of toilet, with one hand on their butt and the other holding a toilet paper roll.

Why is poop brown?

By John Loeffler published

Knowing why poop is brown, and what it means when it's not, is an important step in staying healthy.

This micrograph shows Clostridium difficile bacteria.

For Fecal Transplants, Frozen Poop Just as Good

By Martta Kelly last updated

Wee water bears can survive conditions that would be deadly to most other animals.

Tardigrades hitch risky rides inside snail bellies, then escape in their poop

By Mindy Weisberger published

Scientists recently found that tardigrades can travel by snail to reach new destinations that were otherwise beyond their reach.

Worms scavenging the brain of a Miocene fossil stargazer produced the many hundreds of tiny fossilized fecal pellets seen here. This is the first skull known from the fossil record to have its braincase completely filled with fossilized poop.

'Wonderfully-shaped feces' found inside ancient fish skull. What left the pretty poops?

By Mindy Weisberger published

About 9 million years ago, marine worms burrowed into a dead fish's head and left behind a skull full of fossilized poop.

photo of a hippo sticking its head out of the water with its mouth wide open

Hippos unleash poop tornado in response to stranger danger

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Hippos respond differently to the calls of familiar and unfamiliar hippos.

photo of a flushing toilet shown from above

How often you poop may be (partly) written in your genes

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A new study aimed to find genetic risk factors for irritable bowel syndrome.

A humpback whale feeds off the coast of California

Baleen whales eat three times more than scientists once thought

By Nicoletta Lanese published

Baleen whales' eating habits trigger ripple effects through the entire ocean food web.

A plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae ) outside of a nest hole, in Sichuan Province, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.

Real-life Pikachus eat yak poop to survive Tibetan winters

By Patrick Pester published

Pikas eat yak poop to help them survive winters at high altitudes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in Asia.

123456789Archives