Kexi Week 2: Language of Poop
The human and animal languages are very different.
We use complex sentences to express abstract ideas and feelings, animals use a simpler communication method for survival. We can talk about the past and future, animals are restricted to the present. We express ourselves using words, body language, and writing; animals can go beyond that.
For example, elephants use infrasound—sounds too low to strike the human ear—to communicate with others far away. Tarsiers use ultrasound—sounds too high for the human ear—to help them communicate in the loud jungle and not alert predators. The Peters’s elephantnose fish uses electro generators and electroreceptors to reach other weakly electric fish. These are all things humans don't have the ability to do.
Though, there is something only animals use to communicate, but humans can do as well—poop!
Technically, we can use it to communicate. If you poop on your friend’s bed, you’ll definitely be sending a nasty message to them. Otherwise, we don't use our waste to do anything special—we never find a need when we have other, more favorable methods to get a point across. Some animals, on the other hand, choose to utilize their poop’s hormones and scents to share information with each other.
Take rhinos for example. Rhinos have something called middens, which are sites where they pile their waste together. By sniffing the waste in these sites, they can gather information on each other’s health, gender, age, and even who’s ready to mate. The dominant male will often poop in the middle of the midden to indicate that he owns the territory; this act is important in preventing conflict and fights between male rhinos because it allows them to negotiate boundaries, give weaker rivals a chance to safely back down, and helps neighboring rhinos not accidentally trespass.
Raccoons also have something similar to middens; they have latrines which is a communal defecation spot where they leave details on territory boundaries, stress levels, who’s ready to breed, and the raccoon’s identity. Their waste also sometimes contains undigested parts of their meal, such as berries, seeds, or corn husks, which lets others know what types of food are available in that area.
Here’s a fun fact that can save your life!: Never sweep or vacuum raccoon waste because it’s actually highly dangerous to humans. They often harbor millions of roundworm eggs that can contaminate food and water, leading to humans accidentally consuming it and causing severe neurological damage that has no reliable cure.
When I started researching this rather questionable topic, I never expected it to be this fascinating. I always thought that animals sniffed each other’s poop because they liked the scent, which sounds dumb now, but I learned that their waste is essential to communicating without confrontation.
Hi Kexi! This is such an interesting topic! Usually when I think of animal languages, I just think of barking, echolocation, or whatever other sounds animals make, but I like how you added your own twist to it and made it about poop. I never knew that animals could share information through poop. I’ve heard that some animals use their urine to mark their territory, but I’ve never heard of that happening with poop. On another note, I also thought that animals smelled each other’s poop just because they liked it, so you’re not alone. I guess that goes to show that the strange things that animals do sometimes might not be as strange as we think they are. I don’t know if this is a weird take, but I think the animals pooping is kind of like texting. You send a message (or a poop in this case) and other people can see it whenever they need to without confrontation, just like you mentioned in the last sentence. Also, I love how you added a fun fact about the dangers of raccoon waste. Sometimes at night, I’ll just see some raccoons in my backyard, and once in a while, I’ll hear some weird growling and hissing noises. I don’t know if that’s from the raccoon or the dog next door fighting the raccoon, though. Anyways, I wasn’t aware of how dangerous raccoon waste was, so hopefully there isn’t any in my backyard. Your blog was very insightful, and I learned a lot!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Kexi, I never thought that I would ever learn this much about poop from a classroom assignment, but I did find this very interesting. You started with how other animals have made their own communication systems, which really showed how all animals adapted to their environments and how their main forms of communication are suited for their own species. But the introduction of poop completely startled me. I thought it was amazing how two completely different species used poop for such similar purposes, and both involved leaving waste behind for others to smell, and it gives so much information about the area and the animal itself. It really reminded me of the simplicity of life and how there're so many different ways people can communicate without needing any source of electricity, with poop definitely not being one of them.
ReplyDelete